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9 11, 2017

Parshat Hayei Sara, 5778

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2017-11-09T10:45:40-05:00November 9, 2017|

Hospitality: Judaism’s Family Business
by Rabbi Irwin Huberman

It was twenty years ago that my wife and I learned from two young children one of the most important values within all of Judaism.

It’s a lesson embodied in this week’s Parashah, Hayei Sarah-and it may well be a central pillar of what has allowed Jewish tradition to endure and evolve over thousands of years.

I remember that chilly winter night, long before I entered the rabbinate, when the local Chabad rabbi invited my wife and me for Shabbat dinner.

We were obviously nervous.

Would we say something wrong? Would we stumble when asked to recite the Sabbath blessings? These questions and a dozen more like them seemed to fill the air as we made our way up our hosts’ driveway.

As we approached the front steps, the door swung open, and out flew two boys, aged nine and eleven, who grabbed our gloves and coats and hats before we’d Read More >

1 11, 2017

Parshat VaYera, 5778

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2017-11-01T11:18:24-04:00November 1, 2017|

by Rabbi Isaac Mann

I would like to share with you a very insightful ethical interpretation of a midrashic comment that I heard in the name of Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Pam, who was the Rosh ha-Yeshiva of Mesivta Torah Vodaath in the latter part of the 20^th century.

Commenting on the verse in Genesis 21:6, which describes Sarah’s reaction to her giving birth to Isaac at the age of 90 (“G-d has brought me laughter; whoever hears about this will laugh with me”), the Midrash adds that many barren women became pregnant (literally “were remembered by G-d”) along with her, many sick were healed along with her, many prayers were answered along with her, for there was much laughter (i.e. joy) in the world (quoted by Rashi ad loc.).

The Midrash is apparently responding to the question of why would everyone who heard about Sarah’s birth erupt into joyful laughter. Surely Read More >

24 10, 2017

Parshat Lekh Lekha

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2017-10-24T08:41:20-04:00October 24, 2017|

On Being a Blessing

A Dvar Torah for Lekh Lekha

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz

“I’m on the 5^th floor and my window is open
and someone outside sneezed so i shouted ‘BLESS U’ out the window
and he said “THANK YOU BUILDING”
–From the twitter feed of Jonny Sun

In Parashat Lekh Lekha when Abram is called to go forth from his home God tells him, “And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing” (Genesis 12:2).

What is the significance of God saying Abram will “be a blessing”?

One might assume that the one chosen by God to “be a blessing” would be pure of character and righteous in action. But this is not Abraham (as Abram is later renamed).

True, he is no doubt considered a blessing by his nephew Lot after he rescues Lot from captivity in Genesis Chapter 14. Read More >

17 10, 2017

Parshat Noah

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2017-10-17T11:56:45-04:00October 17, 2017|

A D’var Torah for Noah

By Rabbi Jill Hammer

Recently in one of my classes at AJR, my students and I noticed an interesting biblical paradox. In Parashat Noah, once the flood has subsided, Noah makes a thanksgiving offering to YHWH. YHWH smells the pleasing odor of the offering and offers a commitment: “As long as the earth endures, planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). In return for Noah’s gratitude for being saved, the Divine promises that the cyclical patterns of nature, the basic foundation upon which human life rests, shall not cease. Even before making a covenant with Noah or offering commands about human life, YHWH promises not to destroy the earth but to allow its cycles to continue. This is a great blessing to the human beings who have been tasked with tilling and tending the earth: “l’ovdah uleshomrah” (Genesis Read More >

10 10, 2017

Parshat Bereshit

By Rabbi Len Levin|2017-10-10T20:51:45-04:00October 10, 2017|

The Ultimate Framing Narrative

A Dvar Torah for Bereshit

By Rabbi Lenny Levin

“In the beginning God created heavens and earth.” (Gen. 1:1)

“Who am I?” The answer to this question takes a narrative form. I am [fill in the name]. I grew up in such-and-such a family, went to such-and-such schools, have had such-and-such experiences and accomplishments. I belong to [one or more religious-ethnic backgrounds]. My [great-]-grandparents came here in 19xx. Our group had a history of so-many centuries in such-and-such a place. My personal narrative is embedded in family and group narratives, extending backwards through receding horizons.

Our teacher Rabbi Neil Gillman said it’s all narrative. We live our lives as narrative. When asked to tell someone (a date, an employer, a therapist, a chance encounter) something Read More >

12 01, 2017

Parashat Vayehi

By Rabbi Len Levin|2017-01-12T17:05:31-05:00January 12, 2017|

The Future — A Sealed Book?
By Rabbi Len Levin

If you were handed a sealed envelope that you had reason to believe contained an infallible prediction of the future course of your life—or of the world’s political history of the next twenty years—would you open it?

This week’s portion Vayehi is unique in its orthography of all portions in the Torah. Whereas the beginning of most portions is indicated by a clear paragraph break, with the words beginning on a new line or after a couple of inches of blank space, Vayehi begins after only a two-letter space separating it from the previous text. The rabbis of the third century interpreted this anomaly: “Jacob our patriarch sought to disclose the end of days, but it was sealed off from him.” (Genesis Rabbah 96:1)

Indeed, in the continuation of the portion, Jacob gathers his sons and tells them, “Come together that I Read More >

6 01, 2017

Parashat Vayigash

By ahsilver|2017-01-06T09:13:04-05:00January 6, 2017|

Do Numbers Really Matter?
by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

This week’s parashah includes a detailed reckoning of all of the Israelites who went down to Egypt. In the midst of this list the following is written: “These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; in all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.” (Genesis 46:15) This seemingly innocent verse was the cause for much exegetical discussion.

Before we speak about this verse, how about the following verse that also raised some eyebrows: “And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt were two in number. Thus the total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was seventy persons.” (Genesis 46:27) It was simple mathematics, or maybe not so simple mathematics, that was the catalyst for so many comments on these verses. In his Hagut be-Parshiyot ha-Torah, Yehudah Gershuni brings a number of commentators who Read More >

28 12, 2016

Parashat Mikeitz

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2016-12-28T14:49:13-05:00December 28, 2016|

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz

Parashat Mikeitz continues the story of Joseph which was begun in last week’s Torah portion. A theme that connects the two readings is that of three pairs of dreams, each with their own functions.

Last week the young Joseph, favored by his father Jacob and hated by his siblings, fueled the fires of hatred and jealousy by recounting two dreams. In the first, Joseph was an upright sheaf of wheat surrounded by his brothers in the form of sheaves bowing down to him; in the second dream, he was the center of all the 11 planets [read brothers] and the sun and moon. His recounting caused the siblings to become even more furious at this brother of another mother, they threw him into a pit and then sold him to a caravan of traders headed for Egypt. Even though the statement of the brothers’ hatred for Joseph (Gen. 37:4) precedes the Read More >

22 12, 2016

Parashat Vayeishev

By ahsilver|2016-12-22T23:04:59-05:00December 22, 2016|

by Rabbi David Almog

Once upon a ‘Vayehi‘: Listening to the Torah
Parashat Vayeishev

And then

I always thought the words, and then, were a prelude to something wonderful. Like seeing a ship come in or finding a note in your letterbox, when you weren’t expecting one. That swift, surprising transition from nothing to everything.

And then.

Two little words that hold a world of promise.

And then the light pierced though the dark, forbidding sky, and the rain stopped falling.
And then I met you.
– Lang Leav

For writers, the simple words “and then” are much maligned as redundant. The sequence in the sentence, “I sat down and I read the parashah,” is clear without the word “then”. “And then,” if used repeatedly, can sound unwieldy. “I went to the store, and then I bought groceries, and then I cooked dinner, and then I did the dishes.” Nevertheless, when used effectively, “and then” can be emphatic, clarifying the Read More >

14 12, 2016

Parashat Vayishlah

By ahsilver|2016-12-14T14:05:58-05:00December 14, 2016|

Jacob’s Behavior Towards Esau: Appeasement or Realpolitik?

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

This week’s parashah continues the description of Jacob’s attempts at rapprochement with his estranged brother Esau. In his book on Genesis, Rabbi Yehudah Gilad draws our attention to a word that plays an important role in the Jacob-Esau narrative, minha — gift.

“Spending the night there that night, he took a gift from what was at hand, for Esav his brother.” (Gen. 32:14)

“Then say: — to your servant, to Yaakov, it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esav, and here, he himself is also behind us.” (Gen. 32:19)

“You shall say: Also — here, your servant Yaakov is behind us. For he said to himself: I will wipe (the anger from) his face with the gift that goes ahead of my face; afterward, when I see his face, perhaps he will lift up my face!” (Gen. 32:21)

“The gift crossed over ahead of his face, but Read More >

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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