Sefer Bereisheet Archives | Page 14 of 22 | Academy for Jewish Religion

24 10, 2012

Parashat Noah

By Rabbi Len Levin|2012-10-24T11:58:39-04:00October 24, 2012|

Testament for Universal Humanity
By Rabbi Len Levin

The Portion of Noah concludes the Torah’s universalistic preamble to the narrative of the Jewish people. Though clearly written from a Jewish perspective, it nowhere mentions Israel or Jewry. Abram and Sarai are mentioned at the very end, as among the descendants of the line of Shem, a harbinger of the national narrative of Israel which is to follow. These eleven chapters offer a narrative of the genesis of humanity, with numerous lessons, explicit and implicit, for their moral guidance. They are addressed to all humanity, and have been accepted as a spiritual testament by the Western monotheistic faiths comprising over half the human race.

In Jewish vocabulary, bnei Noah (Noahides, or descendants of Noah) is a technical term. Descriptively, it denotes the entire human race, who according to the Biblical narrative are all descendants of Adam and Eve, but also of Noa Read More >

12 10, 2012

Parashat Bereshit

By ahsilver|2012-10-12T18:22:17-04:00October 12, 2012|

The Story of Creation

By Rabbi Judith Edelstein

For rabbis and cantors – as well as for many congregants who are involved in synagogue life, this is the most challenging and stressful time of year. No sooner have we rabbis concluded our Academy Award winning soliloquies and day of starvation than we have to change out of our kittels, or gowns, and go from the divine to the arcane as we wave an odd assortment of flora up, down, left, and right. Talk about stress, pity the left-right dyslexic and large-picture thinkers among us! The grand finale, immense commotion and ceremony surrounding the sacred scrolls before we slump into hol, the daily routine.

How do we keep the energy going? What magic gets us out of bed and keeps us on the bimah following the high drama of these weeks? What I grapple with the most, however, because I only have High Holiday responsibilities, is: How do I maintain Read More >

4 01, 2012

Parashat Vayehi

By Rabbi Len Levin|2012-01-04T12:09:17-05:00January 4, 2012|

The Future – A Sealed Book?

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 Read More >

27 12, 2011

Parashat Vayigash

By ahsilver|2011-12-27T18:16:03-05:00December 27, 2011|

The Moment of Impact

By Cantor Marcia Lane

In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell describes the moment when a situation changes, the small thing that had a big impact on a problem or a situation.

In this week’s parashah we come to the moment in a long narrative when life will change for each of the participants in the drama. Joseph sits, disguised as the Pharaoh’s viceroy, watching his brothers try desperately to get out of the seemingly impossible situation they are in. Do they leave their brother Benjamin behind, go home and break the bad news to dad? Do they argue, fight, reason? How can they win his freedom without sacrificing their own? The sum total of what they think they know is only a fraction of what is actually happening. Joseph holds all the cards. He knows who they are, what they have done, what he has done to them — Read More >

15 12, 2011

Parashat Vayeshev

By ahsilver|2011-12-15T21:09:50-05:00December 15, 2011|

By Rabbi Andrea Myers

Years ago, I took a road trip to Cincinnati to do research at the archives of Hebrew Union College. It was my first time away from home since our daughter Ariella had been born four years before.

In preparation for my departure, my partner Lisa asked me whether I needed anything sent to the dry cleaners, and I asked her to send my pea coat so I would be warm in the cold Cincinnati spring. She was kind enough to do so, but busy enough that she did not check the pockets. We realized, too late, that my wallet was inside. We called the dry cleaners, who told us it was nowhere to be found. We were rabbinic enough to want to give the benefit of the doubt, and New Yorkers enough that we were skeptical. We went that night to the premises, and found the remains of my wallet Read More >

7 12, 2011

Parashat Vayishlah

By ahsilver|2011-12-07T15:41:16-05:00December 7, 2011|

By Miriam Herscher

“I am Jacob. I am going home, and I am anxious and scared.

“I have been away for twenty years. I have not spoken to nor seen my brother or parents in all that time. We parted under horrendous circumstances. I cheated my brother, with the help of my mother, and stole his birthright blessing from our father. It should have been his. But he did actually say once that I could have it; one day he came home from hunting and wanted the food that I had cooked. In exchange for it I asked him to sell me his birthright, and he did.

“Now, I know my father is still alive, and I want to try to reconcile with my brother. But I am terrified of his anger. Maybe he still wants to kill me. Is reconciliation possible after all these years? Will he forgive me? Can there even be forgiveness Read More >

24 11, 2011

Parashat Toldot

By ahsilver|2011-11-24T23:59:29-05:00November 24, 2011|

Don’t Forget the Lentils

By Rabbi Katy Z. Allen

What about the lentils?

“Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished. And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Give me some of that red stuff to gulp down, for I am famished’- which is why he was named Edom. Jacob said, ‘First sell me your birthright.’ And Esau said, ‘I am at the point of death, so of what use is my birthright to me?’ But Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first.’ So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Jacob then gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, and he rose and went away. Thus did Esau spurn the birthright” (Gen 25:29-34, New JPS translation).

We, along with the commentators, tend to focus on the people in this and other biblical stories, trying to gain insight into the meaning of the text and Read More >

15 11, 2011

Parashat Hayyei Sarah

By ahsilver|2011-11-15T12:53:56-05:00November 15, 2011|

By Cantor Jaclyn Chernett

Traditionally, in Kol Nefesh, our little shul in London, this sedra marks the annual celebration for our Hevra Kadisha, when we study and have a meal together. The Hevra Kadisha it is, literally, a Sacred Society that, among other things, ritually prepares bodies of those who have died, for their final rest. Ironically, this year it coincides with Brian’s and my Golden Wedding anniversary and although my heart sank at the sobering thought of finding an analogy between our simha and burial, it is actually apposite! The stories in our sedra show the family of Abraham move from death (first that of Sarah) to marriage (of Isaac and Rebecca) to death (of Abraham and Ishmael). While on the surface these links seem rather shocking, they heighten awareness of how Jewish tradition helps us to try to understand the world and to live in alignment with our deepest values.

When Sarah Read More >

8 11, 2011

Parashat Vayeira

By Rabbi Enid C. Lader|2011-11-08T11:25:57-05:00November 8, 2011|

By Rabbi Enid Lader

“Adonai appeared to him in the terebinths of Mamre, while he was sitting in the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day” (Gen. 18:1). Through Rashi’s commentary on this verse, we learn that God’s appearance before Abraham was an act ofÂ bikkur holim – visiting the sick, and that Rabbi. Hama ben Hanina said, “It was the third day after his circumcision, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, came to inquire after him.” This is indeed the proof text for the mitzvah of visiting the sick, and there is much to learn from God’s example.

There is a time for sending a get well card… and there is a time for a personal visit. And this verse teaches us the importance of a personal visit. But not right away. The patient needs time to heal on his (or her) own. Moses Maimonides (Rambam) spells this Read More >

3 11, 2011

Parashat Lekh Lekha

By ahsilver|2011-11-03T12:05:19-04:00November 3, 2011|

By Simcha Raphael

I imagine it was a crystal clear desert night in Haran. Standing under a glittering band of stars adorning ancient Mesopotamian skies, Abram son of Terah suddenly heard a beckoning voice:

Abram! Go forth from your native land, from your birthplace, from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you… and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Gen. 12:1-3)

In Parashat Lekh Lekha, Abraham is called by G!d to sojourn to Canaan and in so doing, becomes the progenitor of the Jewish people and ultimately, the Abrahamic religions. Here we encounter the classical calling of the hero (see Joseph Campbell, Hero with A Thousand Faces). Responding to a divine calling, an individual embarks upon a journey into the unknown, following their destiny and becoming an agent for world transformation.

Lekh Read More >