Parashat Hayyei Sarah

By Molly Karp

Hayyei Sarah, while not the only parashah named for a person, is the only one named for a woman. It is not surprising that it is named for Sarah; what is surprising, however, is that this parashah seems not to be about Sarah Imeinu – Sarah Our Mother – at all! What really is going on here?

The first chapter of the parashah is about Abraham’s purchasing a burial cave for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite. Sarah is not an active character in this chapter; we know nothing about her death save that it is recorded directly following Abraham’s returning home alone from the near-sacrifice of Isaac, but that is the topic of another d’var Torah. The second chapter of the parashah, Chapter 24 is the longest chapter in B’reshit, and one of the central ones as well. Its placement tells us that it is a most important chapter. By Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-11-12T09:24:43-05:00November 12, 2008|

Parashat Vayera – Seeing God

By Laurie Levy

The verb reish-aleph-hey occurs three times in the first two verses of this week’s parashah. I think this points to a lesson about what it means to see – really see.

Last week we ended with Abraham circumcising himself and his household and so this week, when we read that Abraham is sitting at the entrance of his tent, we infer that he is recuperating from his recent surgery. Sitting there midday, God appears to him: “He lifted his eyes and, behold, he saw three men standing near him.” (Gen. 18:2) How is it that these strangers (who we later come to realize are angels of God)appear to him so suddenly in the middle of the desert?

The S’fat Emet, a 19th century Hasidic master, answers this question with a verse from Job, who, despite all the suffering he was experiencing in his body and on his skin, says: “In Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-11-12T09:03:46-05:00November 12, 2008|

Yom Kippur

By Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

Yom Kippur means “the Day of Atonement,” but we can also think of this day as “the Day of Truth-Telling.” Our major spiritual task in life is to access our personal truths and connect them to universal truths, and then to have the courage to speak these truths with enough faith that we speak them not with defiance or defensiveness, but with profound humility. Yom Kippur can help us on this journey.

The Torah portion for Yom Kippur contains words such as avonot, pesha’im, chata’ot, tum’ot – sins, transgressions, iniquities, uncleanness. These words speak of our fear, anger, guilt, or other spiritual blocks to a freer sense of being and a better relationship with the Holy One of Blessing. The text describes an ancient ritual that, despite its foreignness to our modern sensibilities, can be read as a metaphor that, aliyah (individual section of the Torah reading) by aliyah, Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-11-06T14:07:43-05:00November 6, 2008|

Parashat Bâ€™reishit

To Begin at the Beginning . . .
By Hazzan Marcia Lane

I have an affinity for stationery stores. I love the smell of new paper. I am constantly buying new notebooks, trying to find the perfect form of paper, lines, binding, cover that will inspire me to greater heights of insight and literary brilliance. I am delighted by the blank page, by the endless possibilities of the absence of words. What to write? What to think? What to communicate? A love letter? A thank you note? A journal page? An invoice? Blank pages are magical.

Our parashah this week, B’reishit, is the blank page on which God writes. In fact, God enjoys the blank page so much that He writes not one but two stories of creation. In the first (Ch. 1:1 to 2:4), creation is described as a kind of song, a poem, a paean of creating. The language is ritualized and Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-11-06T14:04:27-05:00November 6, 2008|

Parashat Lekh Lekha

Famine in the Land of Canaan – A Test of Abraham
By Jaron Matlow

Our Sages, of blessed memory, stated that God tested Abram ten times to ensure that Abram truly was a righteous person. According to Midrash Tanhuma (Lekh Lekha 5) one of those tests was the famine in the Land of Canaan (Bereshit 12:10). Our midrash further points out that there had never previously been such a famine in the Land.

According to that midrash Abram’s response to this famine is to go down to Egypt, where there is food, despite the fact that he is aware of the character of Egyptians. On arrival in Egypt, Abram becomes aware of his mistake, and prays to God that he not be humiliated because of his plan. Sarai, upon realizing what is happening, shrieks out to God, “Master of the Universe, I used to know nothing. But since Abram said to me that You Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-11-06T13:58:42-05:00November 6, 2008|

Parashat Noah

Seeing Our Choices More Clearly
By Rabbi Regina L. Sandler-Phillips

“In the market, the blind cry out to the one-eyed as clear-sighted.” (Genesis Rabbah 30:9)

These are the words of Rabbi Yehudah in a rabbinic dispute concerning Genesis 6:9, which declares that “Noah was a righteous man, unblemished in his generations.” Rabbi Yehudah is among those who interpret this statement as veiled condemnation – in other words, Noah could only be considered righteous and unblemished when compared with the majority of his time. In a period of utter moral blindness, the “one-eyed” Noah was the greatest hope for both humanity and the earth.

Noah’s critics often focus on his apparent silence during his extended preparations for disaster – preparations which fulfill the letter of divine command, but do not reflect any active concern for those beyond his immediate family. To pursue this line of ethical reasoning, it might be helpful to have our own Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-10-29T12:07:17-04:00October 29, 2008|

Parashat Noah

Seeing Our Choices More Clearly
By Rabbi Regina L. Sandler-Phillips

“In the market, the blind cry out to the one-eyed as clear-sighted.” (Genesis Rabbah 30:9)

These are the words of Rabbi Yehudah in a rabbinic dispute concerning Genesis 6:9, which declares that “Noah was a righteous man, unblemished in his generations.” Rabbi Yehudah is among those who interpret this statement as veiled condemnation – in other words, Noah could only be considered righteous and unblemished when compared with the majority of his time. In a period of utter moral blindness, the “one-eyed” Noah was the greatest hope for both humanity and the earth.

Noah’s critics often focus on his apparent silence during his extended preparations for disaster – preparations which fulfill the letter of divine command, but do not reflect any active concern for those beyond his immediate family. To pursue this line of ethical reasoning, it might be helpful to have our own Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-10-29T12:07:17-04:00October 29, 2008|

Sukkot

The Festival of Sukkot-Joy or Discomfort?
By Rabbi David Greenstein

The festival of Sukkot is traditionally called “Z’man Simchatenu – The Season of Our Joy.” This follows from the Biblical injunction that specifically emphasizes the mitzvah of rejoicing whenever this holiday is mentioned, whether in Leviticus – “And you shall rejoice before the Eternal One, your Almighty, for seven days.” (Lev. 23:40) or in Deuteronomy – “And you shall rejoice in your holiday (of Sukkot).” (Deut. 16:13)

The primacy of this element is so strong that it endows Sukkot with a unique rule that is not present with regard to other commandments. This rule is the exemption of “mitzta`er – being in discomfort.” According to traditional Jewish law, while one must dwell in a sukkah for seven days in fulfillment of the Torah’s command, this obligation is set aside if doing so would cause a person discomfort. Now we must appreciate how Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-10-18T19:10:58-04:00October 18, 2008|

Parashat Vayelekh

Shabbat Shuvah
By Jill Minkoff

Be Strong and Brave

Half of forty years ago this season, I sent my youngest child to her first day of school. For both of us, it was fraught with excitement and fear. She had heard about this day for much of her life, a day of great possibility, yet a day of neither parent being able to accompany her. She felt pulled to her future yet reluctant to let go of the hand that had been with her for so much of her life. She was fearful and cried. Would she be safe in this new place? Would people be nice to her? (Do you remember how you felt on your first day of school or at some other major transition in your life?) We both felt anxious. At least, it was only for a few hours that she would be in school before returning home to Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-10-03T09:41:36-04:00October 3, 2008|

Rosh HaShanah

By Sanford Olshansky

“Take your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will point out to you.” And Abraham arose early in the morning and saddled his ass and took his two lads with him and Isaac, his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering and got up and went to the place [of which] God told him. (Gen 22:2,3)

I have an only son, whom I love. Until recently, he was a sports reporter, covering college hockey. His work took him, in the harshest winter, to isolated places such as Burlington, VT, Hanover, NH and Storrs, CT. After doing post-game interviews and filing his story, he drove, late at night, over icy highways, to his next destination. On many such nights I prayed silently Read More >

By ahsilver|2008-09-25T09:30:51-04:00September 25, 2008|

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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