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7 11, 2022

Parashat Vayeira 5783

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T15:04:46-05:00November 7, 2022|

How Do you Make a Well or a Ram Disappear? By Rabbi Rob Scheinberg Twenty years ago, two experimental psychologists at Harvard, named Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, created what has become one of the most famous experiments in the behavioral sciences. The participants in this study were given a simple task. They just had to watch a brief video that included several people passing basketballs back and forth to each other. Three of these players were wearing white shirts, and three were wearing black shirts. The task was simple: watch the ball that was being passed among the players with the white shirts, and count how many times the basketball was passed. This is not difficult – most people came up with the right number.

31 10, 2022

Parashat Lekh Lekh 5783

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T15:06:07-05:00October 31, 2022|

A D'var Torah for Parashat Lekh Lekha By Rabbi Rena Kieval ('06) Be a blessing! Vehe-yei berakha! I am always struck by the profound, surprising and somewhat mysterious words spoken by God to begin a new relationship with Abraham. God might have opened with something more like, “Follow this important set of rules I will give you,” “You shall believe in Me,” or, “Let us enter into a covenant.” In time, the Torah will present all of those frameworks for a life with God, but God’s momentous first call to Abraham sets the stage with a series of statements about blessing: “I will bless you, those who bless you will be blessed, those who curse you will be cursed, you will be a source of blessing to others, and vehe-yei berakha: you will be, or should be, a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2,3) God’s words about blessing suggest not only the birth of a relationship with Abraham, but a new vision of humanity’s role in God’s world.

24 10, 2022

Parashat Noah 5783

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T15:08:32-05:00October 24, 2022|

Seasonal Changes: "Remembering" to be Merciful to Ourselves By Rabbi Mitchell Blank ('21) Living in southern New York, I love this time of year, especially the changing of the leaves. Our home backs upon acres of undeveloped woods. About 20 years ago, I built a 1.5 mile loop trail through the forest. The path took six months to complete; it was an embodied labor of love. Seasonal maintenance proved to be labor intensive as well. After more than a decade of clearing fallen branches, the trail was now also defined by at least 20 lbs. of wood stacked high for its entire length. The ongoing maintenance and care were daily sources of enjoyment and satisfaction. The boundaries of the path, tangible reminders of years of hard work, only heightened the love derived from walking it.

19 10, 2022

Parashat Bereisheet – 5783

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-23T12:31:32-05:00October 19, 2022|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

What Cain Learned
A D’var Torah for Parashat Beresheet
By Dr. Yakir Englander

In the Genesis story, we find Cain and Abel in a field. There the elder brother, Cain, kills Abel, the younger. Midrash Rabbah (22) on this passage remarks that Cain does not know how to take the life of another human person. So, he decides to imitate his brother, slaughtering him in the same way he had seen Abel himself slaughter animals as sacrificial offerings to God. When that same God questions Cain, after the murder, it is with either an utter innocence or with a calculated intent to cross-examine the killer: “Where is your brother Abel?” And Cain responds, without batting an eyelid: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9)

It is a disturbing passage. As a Jewish theologian, I have always felt that Read More >

17 12, 2021

Parashat Vayehi 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:56:58-05:00December 17, 2021|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayehi
By Rabbi Marc Rudolph (’04)

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D‘var Torah

In Act ll of Richard the Second, Shakespeare tells us that:

The tongues of dying men

Enforce attention like deep harmony:

Where words are scarce, they are seldom spent in vain,

For they breathe truth/ that breathe their words in pain.

This week’s parasha recounts the dying words of Yaakov avinu. As you recall, Jacob has brought his entire family to Egypt and for seventeen years has been reunited with his beloved son Joseph. The parasha opens with Jacob summoning his children to his bedside. With his last words Jacob rebukes some of his sons, prays for others, gives blessings to some, recalls memories, shares psychological insights, delivers warnings and imparts hope. After blessing his youngest son, Benjamin, Jacob speaks no more. The Torah tells us that he gathers his feet into his Read More >

9 12, 2021

Parashat Vayigash 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:56:47-05:00December 9, 2021|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayigash
By Rabbi Doug Alpert (’12)

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

With this week’s Parashah we are neck-deep into the Joseph story. A prominent focus of the narrative has been, and continues to be, on Joseph’s relationship with his brothers. Was Joseph seeking revenge on his brothers by withholding his identity, fulfilling a Divine purpose set forth from his youth and/or simply following a series of dreams (his and others) as he interprets those dreams? Can the idea of dreams in Joseph’s case be a stand-in for ambition? All good questions for discussion, but I am drawn in more to how Joseph acts as leader and administrator.

In this week’s Parasha Joseph acts upon his interpretation of Pharoah’s dream predicting the famine to come. His administrative and problem solving acumen in devising a national plan to provide food during the famine leads him to a position of power in Egypt. He is second Read More >

3 12, 2021

Parashat Mikeitz 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:56:33-05:00December 3, 2021|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Mikeitz
By Rabbi Jeffrey Segelman

This Shabbat is a three Torah Shabbat. We will read the weekly parasha of Mikeitz, then the reading for Rosh Hodesh and then for Hanukkah. Though it may be a stretch, let’s see if we can weave together the common themes of these three.

The story of Hanukkah is captured in the conflict between Hellenists, those Jews who embraced much of Greek culture (sometimes to the exclusion of core Jewish rituals and values) and those Jews who saw Greek culture as the defilement of Torah and the holy Jewish way of life. Obviously the Greeks themselves fought on the side of the Hellenists, which made the Hasmonean victory nothing short of miraculous.

Parashat Mikeitz tells the story of the rise of Joseph from prison to become the viceroy of Egypt. At Read More >

26 11, 2021

Parashat Vayeishev 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:56:24-05:00November 26, 2021|

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeishev
By Rabbi Ariann Weitzman (’11)

The story of Tamar is sandwiched between two momentous scenes in the Joseph saga:

The first scene: Joseph dreams some dreams, whose interpretation infuriates his jealous brothers, who sell him to Egyptian slavers. The second scene: Joseph lands in the house of Potiphar, where he is harassed by Potiphar’s wife, resists her advances, and is then thrown into jail based on her lies. In jail, he interprets dreams of Pharaoh’s servants.

In the middle we have Tamar. Around the time that Joseph is sold into slavery, Judah, Jacob’s fourth son, has settled himself as a shepherd of his own flocks in Canaan. He has three sons, and marries off his first son, Er, to a local Read More >

19 11, 2021

Parashat Vayishlah 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:56:15-05:00November 19, 2021|

Bless People by Their Names
A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayishlah
By Rabbi Lizz Goldstein (’16)

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

This week is Transgender Awareness Week, an opportunity for trans folks to celebrate themselves and for allies to educate themselves and uplift the voices of the too often silenced queer community. The week culminates in the observance of Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th. Transgender people, especially trans women of color, are disproportionately affected by hate violence, ranging from harassment to murder; according to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 45 trans people have been killed through violent means in 2021. Additionally, trans people are more likely than cisgender people to express suicidal ideation or to actually commit suicide. All this leads to the necessity of a Transgender Day of Remembrance to hold vigils for those lost due to the Read More >

12 11, 2021

Parashat Vayeitzei 5782

By Linda Ripps|2022-11-09T14:56:07-05:00November 12, 2021|

A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayeitzei
By Rabbi Katy Allen (’05)

Click HERE for an audio recording of this D’var Torah

Once long ago and far away there lived a wise Queen who ruled a small but thriving territory. The Queen had three daughters. As each daughter came of age, the Queen gave her 10 pieces of gold and admonished her to use them both wisely and compassionately. The oldest daughter gave one piece of gold to help feed and clothe the poor and hungry, and the Queen was pleased by this. The second daughter gave two pieces of gold to help feed and clothe the poor and hungry, and the Queen was much pleased by this. The third daughter gave three – and some say she gave all 10 – pieces of gold to help feed and clothe the poor and hungry, and the Queen was not pleased.

The origins of this 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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