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22 10, 2015

Parashat Lekh-Lekha

Rabbi Len Levin2015-10-22T22:05:10-04:00

Way of the Spiritual Seeker

Rabbi Len Levin

The Lord said to Abram, lekh lekha–go to/for/by yourself–from your land, from your birthplace, from your father’s household, to the place that I will show you. (Gen. 12:1) Philo of Alexandria in The Migration of Abraham (around 35 CE) offered the following interpretation: Each individual is called on to embark on a spiritual-mystical journey, leaving behind one’s bodily preoccupations and corporeal ancestral speech, and finding the spiritual center that transcends materiality, where one comes in contact with one’s higher self.

Rashi (around 1080) interpreted lekha “for your benefit.” Abraham is told that this will be the start of his flourishing and becoming the progenitor of mighty nations.

The Zohar (~1280) interpreted it as saying: Know and perfect your spiritual madrega (level of being).

Ephraim of Luntshitz (in the Keli Yekar, 1602) interpreted it as addressed to Abraham and saying: Set out to Jerusalem, the navel of the world, site of Read More >

Parashat Lekh-LekhaRabbi Len Levin2015-10-22T22:05:10-04:00

20 10, 2015

Parashat Noah

ahsilver2015-10-20T14:41:47-04:00

The Age Of Destruction

Haza

In last week’s Torah reading, Genesis/Bereishit, we saw not one but two very wonderful versions of God’s creative energy. The act of creating the world is told in two very different stories, first in chapter 1:1-2:4 (“and there was evening, and there was morning, day one”) and again in chapter 2:5-2:24 (“…but for Adam, no fitting help-partner was found.”). In this week’s parashah, Noah, we see the first of several examples of God as destroyer. Disgusted with the behavior of humankind, with the violence that has corrupted creation, God decides to wipe out animal life on the planet and start over. He instructs Noah to create a closed bio-system, a way of preserving the ‘starter kit’ for the new world. In stunning language, the bible describes the effects of the flood:

And all flesh that stirred upon the earth perished; birds, cattle, beasts, every swarming thing that swarmed upon the Read More >

Parashat Noahahsilver2015-10-20T14:41:47-04:00

8 10, 2015

Parashat Bereishit

ahsilver2015-10-08T21:36:27-04:00

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

For many people the season of repentance ended with the Neilah service on Yom Kippur. For others the gates of repentance remained open through Hoshanah Rabbah, the last day of Hol Ha-Moed Sukkot. This emphasis on Hoshanah Rabbah as the final day of the season of repentance can be found in numerous medieval sources and is illustrated in the following statement from the Zohar:

“On the seventh day of the Festival, Judgement is concluded in the world and decrees go forth from the King’s palace.” (Zohar, Tsav 3:31b, trans. D. Matt)

I would like to extend the theme of repentance to include Parashat Bereishit. Rabbi Yaakov Meidan of Yeshivat Har Etzion pointed out that in this week’s parashah we read not only about the first sin committed by humanity, but also about the first missed opportunity to perform teshuvah, repentance.

But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, Read More >

Parashat Bereishitahsilver2015-10-08T21:36:27-04:00

2 01, 2015

Parashat Vayehi

ahsilver2015-01-02T02:06:47-05:00

Parashat Va-Yehi
Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

Many people associate this week’s parashah with endings. Much of the parashah consists of Jacob’s final testament to his children, and next week we no longer read about the trials and tribulations of Abraham’s descendants, but rather of the rise of Moses as a leader and the Israelite’s enslavement in Egypt. Despite this emphasis on the end of an era, an interpretation found in the Talmud understands a verse found at the beginning of this week’s parashah as a sign of beginning.

Until Abraham there was no such thing as [the sign of] old age. Whoever saw Abraham thought, “This is Isaac.” Whoever saw Isaac thought, “This is Abraham.” Abraham prayed for mercy so that he might have [signs of] old age, as it is said, “And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age” (Gen. 24:1). Until the time of Jacob Read More >

Parashat Vayehiahsilver2015-01-02T02:06:47-05:00

23 12, 2014

Parashat Vayigash

Rabbi Isaac Mann2014-12-23T22:16:12-05:00

Parashat Vayigash
by Rabbi Isaac Mann

This week’s Torah portion Vayigash begins with a dramatic confrontation between Joseph, Pharaoh’s viceroy, and Judah over the fate of Benjamin, in whose sack was discovered Joseph’s silver goblet. The Egyptian leader insisted, as we learn from last week’s parashah, that the “thief” Benjamin remain a slave in Egypt while Judah offered to remain in his stead and allow Benjamin to return to his elderly father.

In his plea to the Egyptian ruler, not knowing of course that he was their long-lost brother Joseph, Judah recounts their previous conversations as well as those that took place with their father over the issue of bringing Benjamin down to Egypt. The entire tone of Judah’s monologue is very plaintive, pleading with the ruler in almost a begging manner to show mercy and compassion for a bereft father. Judah was the supplicant entreating the all-powerful lord.

While this appears to be the plain Read More >

Parashat VayigashRabbi Isaac Mann2014-12-23T22:16:12-05:00

23 12, 2014

Parashat Mikeitz

ahsilver2014-12-23T22:13:46-05:00

Seven Years of Famine
by Hazzan Marcia Lane

And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years it is the same dream. The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the cast wind; they are seven years of famine. It is just as I have told Pharaoh: God has revealed to Pharaoh what He is about to do. Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine, no trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine Read More >

Parashat Mikeitzahsilver2014-12-23T22:13:46-05:00

10 12, 2014

Parashat Vayeishev

Cantor Sandy Horowitz2014-12-10T12:41:46-05:00

Cantor Sandy Horowitz

“Trouble, trouble, trouble trouble…trouble been doggin’ my soul since the day I was born…”
Ray Lamontagne

At the beginning of Parashat Vayeishev we read that Jacob settled in the land of his fathers. Right away however, things become quite unsettled: “Joseph brought bad reports about [his brothers] to his father” (Gen 37:2). Jacob’s youngest son is a seventeen-year-old tattle-tale.

When we read the brothers’ perspective on the situation two verses later, we see that Joseph’s actions actually aren’t the primary reason for their hatred: “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, so they hated him” (Gen 37:4). Jacob’s blatant displays of favoritism are at the root of the problem.

Jacob’s favoritism goes back to Parashat Vayishlah, when he encountered his estranged brother Esau. As Esau advanced towards him with four hundred men, “He placed the maidservants and their children first and Leah and her children Read More >

Parashat VayeishevCantor Sandy Horowitz2014-12-10T12:41:46-05:00

3 12, 2014

Parashat Vayishlah

Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD2014-12-03T12:57:54-05:00

The Meaning of Aloneness
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

“Jacob went out from Beersheva, and went toward Haran.” (Gen. 28:10)

“With my staff alone I crossed this Jordan.” (Gen. 32:11)

“Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him till dawn.” (Gen. 32:25)

“Dinah, the daughter Leah bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, saw her, took her, and raped her.” (Gen. 34:1)

There’s a hill I like to visit in Central Park. A wild meadow surrounded by five great trees, it’s often filled with head-high sumac and milkweed, or, if the Parks Department mows it, with marshy grass underfoot. Years ago, it had a mysterious dead tree at its center. Over the course of years, a vine wrapped around the tree, and when the tree finally fell, the vine took its Read More >

Parashat VayishlahRabbi Jill Hammer, PhD2014-12-03T12:57:54-05:00

3 12, 2014

Parashat Vayeitzei

Rabbi Len Levin2014-12-03T11:59:55-05:00

Rabbi Len Levin

“Indeed, God is in this place!”

This week, the Torah tells of the first of two climactic encounters that the Patriarch Jacob experienced, both of them occurring at transitional points of his outward career and inner growth. This week we read of Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. The place — Beth El (House of God) — later became (not coincidentally) one of the major cultic centers of the Israelite kingdom.

The rabbis were so impressed by the image of the ladder connecting earth and heaven that in a rather creative interpretation they conflated Jerusalem and Beth El, understanding them to represent one central connecting point, the umbilicus or navel of the earth, the point from which the creation of the world proceeded. They declared the location of the Jerusalem temple to be Even Shetiyah, the Foundation Stone, for on it the world was founded. This idea was Read More >

Parashat VayeitzeiRabbi Len Levin2014-12-03T11:59:55-05:00

3 12, 2014

Parashat Toldot

ahsilver2014-12-03T11:56:12-05:00

Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

The negative attitude towards Esau in rabbinic literature is familiar to many and exemplified by the midrash that states “It is a well known teaching [halakhah] that Esau hates Jacob.” (Sifre on Deuteronomy, Beha’alotkha 69) These midrashim were not talking just about Jacob and Esau, these two figures were, in the words of Gerson D. Cohen, “archetypal symbols of Jewry and Rome.” (found in Gerson D. Cohen, “Esau as Symbol in Early Medieval Thought”)

Did the Rabbis have anything positive to say about Esau? As a matter of fact, they did. The following midrashim show that the rabbis were able to find something good even in somebody who was described so negatively such as Esau. We are challenged to look beyond the negativity in order to find the positive in everyone.

“And Rebecca took the choicest garments of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house” (27:15)-In which Read More >

Parashat Toldotahsilver2014-12-03T11:56:12-05:00

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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