וְיֵעָשׂוּ כֻלָּם אֲגֻדָּה אֶחָת לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם
וְיֵעָשׂוּ כֻלָּם אֲגֻדָּה אֶחָת לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ בְּלֵבָב שָׁלֵם
As I watched live the final episode of “Kochav haba LeEurovision” and witnessed the elegant sensitivity with which they crafted this joyous occasion with the reiterated references to the last almost sixteen months that the hostages have been in captivity, I couldn’t avoid thinking of Naomi Shemer’s song “BeDamaikh Hayi”
The saying goes, “you can take the kid out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the kid.” How and where we grow up has a huge influence on how we move forward and live the rest of our lives.
Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah
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Click HERE for an audio recording of this D‘var Torah
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Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah
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A D’var Torah for Parashat Bo
By Rabbi Bruce Alpert (’11)
“This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months.” (Exodus 12:2) This has to be one of the most jarring verses in all of Torah. After eleven uninterrupted chapters of perhaps the most dramatic story ever told – the conflict between Moses and Pharaoh – we find ourselves in what quickly becomes a detailed discussion of the observance of the festival of Pesah. Gone is the ratcheting tension of human obstinacy in the face of divine wrath and in its place, twenty-eight verses of calendars, cooking instructions and details for future observances.
And yet, in this mass of interrupting detail, I find the answer to what I consider a particularly troubling verse in this week’s parashah, Bo. It too concerns the celebration of a festival. Faced with yet another plague, Pharaoh asks Moses who among the Israelites will depart with him should he be allowed Read More >
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bo
By Rabbi Heidi Hoover (’11)
In this week’s Torah portion, Bo, we are in the midst of the dramatic story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, when they go from slavery to freedom. Because it is the story we retell at Passover, it is one of the most familiar in the Torah. God frees the Israelites “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Psalm 136:12).
In parashat Bo, the last three of the ten plagues befall the Egyptians: locusts, darkness, and the death of the first-born. The penultimate plague, darkness, seems like it might be less destructive than the other two. After all, it gets dark every night, and we all get through it. But this wasn’t like that regular, natural darkness. This was three solid days of “darkness that can be touched” (Exodus 10:21). “A person could not see his brother or sister, and for Read More >
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bo
By Rabbi Bruce Alpert
The exodus from Egypt is understood in different ways: as a miraculous deliverance, as an escape from slavery, as a journey to freedom. Reading again this week’s parashah, Bo, I came away with a different understanding: as a divorce.
I took this understanding from the opening verse of Chapter 11: “The Lord said to Moses, “One more plague shall I bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; after that he shall send you forth from here,” k’shalkho kalah gareish y’gareish etkhem mi-zeh. What struck me about that final phrase was the juxtaposition of the words kalah and gareish. The former can mean bride and the latter, the verb meaning “cast out,” is the root for “divorce.” I initially read that last phrase to mean “like his sending out a bride, he shall certainly cast you out from here.” Rashi, citing Onkelos, tells us that kalah actually Read More >
by Rabbi David Almog
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
Liberation Starts With Listening to the Oppressed
Our traditional image of Moses is the faithful transmitter of the word of God, Torah, and Mitzvot. Therefore, it is a bit surprising that, in both chapters 12 and 13 of Exodus, in the very first commands given by God to Israel regarding the marking of liberation, the words of God and those of Moses seem to differ in Read More >
A Community of Shared Narrative: Dvar Torah for Bo
by Rabbi Len Levin
“You shall tell your child on that day: This is because of what God did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:8)
“In every generation, a person should regard him/herself as if s/he had personally gone out from Egypt.” (Mishnah Pesahim 10:5)
This week’s portion is the focal point of the narrative extending from the enslavement of the Israelites through the exodus to receiving God’s revelation at Sinai. We read in this portion of the culmination of the plagues, the exodus itself, and the injunction to memorialize the liberation through an elaborate communal ritual.
It is clear from other regulations of this celebration that participation in it was a central requirement for membership in the Israelite community (see Numbers 9:10-14). An alien who becomes a member of the community becomes eligible to participate in the ritual. Conversely, an Israelite who Read More >
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