Sefer Bereisheet Archives | Page 8 of 22 | Academy for Jewish Religion

12 10, 2018

Parashat Noah – 5779

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2018-10-12T09:02:41-04:00October 12, 2018|

A D’var Torah for Noah
By Rabbi Isaac Mann

Much has been written by the Bible commentators on the sins that caused God to bring on the Great Flood in the time of Noah. But little ink has been spilled (or keys pressed) in regard to what motivated the Supreme Being to ensure that there will never be a flood again to destroy the world (see Gen. 8:21, 9:8-17).

Surely if the corruption of humankind, and possibly the animal kingdom as well, brought on God’s anger (see Gen. 6:5-7, 11-13) and justified the destruction of all beings (except for Noah and those with him in the Ark), then what would happen if there would be a replay of this selfsame corruption? God’s hands, so to speak, would be tied by the oath He took not to put an end to all life. But then does that imply that He was wrong Read More >

4 10, 2018

Parashat Bereshit 5779

By Rabbi David Evan Markus|2018-10-04T22:51:12-04:00October 4, 2018|

Genesis (En)gendered: An Angelic View from Eden’s Way
A D’var Torah for Parashat Bereshit
by Rabbi David Markus

This momentous #metoo #ibelieveyou moment urges us to see old stories with new eyes. Reading sacred texts with ever renewing eyes is one of many ways that theology teaches us how to see and think – to reach beyond ourselves, to not become calcified and thus brittle, to strengthen our capacity to hold multiplicity and nuance without falling into hopeless relativism or nihilism.

Let’s start at the very beginning (“a very good place to start“). What might this moment of societal gender and sexual reckoning mean for how we read Torah’s sacred story of Creation, ostensibly the most familiar narrative in the Jewish canon?

That we can ask this question about Torah’s most familiar narrative itself says something important – and something hopeful – about the theological project of renewing our eyes and expanding what we see and how we see. (Pirkei Avot Read More >

20 12, 2017

Parashat Vayigash, 5778

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2017-12-20T12:52:37-05:00December 20, 2017|

Jacob’s Ultimate Encounter with God
A D’var Torah for Vayigash
by Cantor Sandy Horowitz ’14

“And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and God said, ‘Jacob, Jacob’. And he said, hineni, ‘Here am I’. And God said ‘I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation; I will go down with you to Egypt; and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes.” Genesis 46:2-4

In Parashat Vayigash, while traveling towards Egypt and the reunion with his long-lost and most-beloved son Joseph, Jacob receives this powerful message of reassurance from God. It is a significant moment not only in the context of Jacob’s own life, it also stands out with regard to two other Torah hineni moments.

As a youth Jacob first encountered Read More >

13 12, 2017

Parashat Miketz, 5778

By Rabbi Len Levin|2017-12-13T10:10:59-05:00December 13, 2017|

Joseph: The First Diaspora Jew?
A D’var Torah for Miketz

by Rabbi Len Levin

“Pharaoh then gave…Joseph for a wife Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On… Joseph named his first-born son Manasseh, meaning ‘God has made me forget my hardship and my parental home.’” (Genesis 41:45, 51)

“They served Joseph by himself, and the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians by themselves; for the Egyptians could not dine with the Hebrews, since that would be abhorrent to the Egyptians.” (Genesis 43:32)

Jews have migrated to many lands Read More >

5 12, 2017

Parashat Vayeshev, 5778

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2017-12-05T12:08:08-05:00December 5, 2017|

The Dreams of Joseph and Solomon
A D’var Torah for Vayeshev
Rabbi Jill Hammer

Many have suggested that events in the Book of Genesis are intertextual with events in the Book of Samuel. For example, the ketonet pasim, the colorful striped coat that Joseph wears as his brothers betray him and sell him into slavery, has a direct relationship with the ketonet pasim, the colorful striped coat that Tamar daughter of David wears as her brother Amnon betrays and rapes her. In fact, in Tanakh there are the only two “striped coats” (the Hebrew word pas may mean “to divide into parts”).

Both coats are torn. Joseph’s brothers tear his in an effort to fake his death, and Tamar tears hers in mourning for what has happened to her. Joseph and Tamar, both betrayed by siblings, must be read in light of one another. It is not even clear which text we should read first. As Read More >

28 11, 2017

Parashat Vayishlah, 5778

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2017-11-28T15:43:44-05:00November 28, 2017|

Not as Bad as We Expected
A D’var Torah for Vayishlah
by Rabbi Heidi Hoover

In this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlah, Jacob and his family return to his homeland, and Jacob anticipates his reunion with his brother Esau. It’s been more than 20 years since Jacob ran away from his brother’s anger, after having stolen their father’s blessing. He is afraid to meet Esau again, afraid that Esau will still be angry. When they do meet, the text says, “Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept” (Genesis 33:4).

The Hebrew word for the phrase, “he kissed him” has dots in the text over each letter. The rabbis interpret this as having meaning. In Midrash Rabba, Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar says this “teaches that he kissed him with all his heart.” Rabbi Yannai disagrees, saying, “It teaches however, that he wished to Read More >

21 11, 2017

Parashat Vayetzei, 5778

By Bruce Alpert|2017-11-21T15:40:05-05:00November 21, 2017|

Jacob and Laban: The Struggle between Past and Future
A D’var Torah for Vayetzei
by Rabbi Bruce Alpert

People who join my Shabbat morning Torah study – particularly those who have never engaged in such study before – are often amazed to discover that they are free to form their own opinions about the Biblical text and the characters who inhabit it. Often, they use this new-found freedom to decide they don’t like our patriarch Jacob. His conditional acceptance of God at the beginning of this week’s parashah, along with his various deceptions and favoritisms, form their bill of particulars against the man.

Opposed to this position stand the rabbis and their view of Jacob’s antagonist. “Go and learn what Laban the Aramean did to our father Jacob,” declares the Passover Haggadah. In its telling, Laban stands a step below Pharaoh in the Jewish annals of infamy.

Strong opinions, then, exist on both sides of Read More >

14 11, 2017

Parashat Toldot, 5778

By Rabbi Rena Kieval|2017-11-14T09:43:24-05:00November 14, 2017|

We’ll Always Have Parents: 2017
A D’var Torah for Toldot
by Rabbi Rena H. Kieval

In the classic movie Casablanca, the ill-fated lovers played by Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman share these words of comfort: “We’ll always have Paris.” A playful poem by Mary Jo Salter uses that line to make a point. The poem, titled, “We’ll Always Have Parents,” notes that, “We’ll always have them…they’re in our baggage.” The poem calls to mind what a wise and learned person once told me: that no matter how old we are, most of us shape our lives in response to our parents. We may define ourselves in a positive way by who our parents were, and what they taught us, and we may also define ourselves against who our parents were, and what they taught us. Most of us are driven and shaped by mixed legacies. Whatever those legacies are, “we’ll always have parents.”

Parashat Toldot reflects this Read More >

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 >

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Programs of Study

Learn more about…

Sefer Bereisheet

ABOUT

LIBRARY

JOIN US

PROGRAMS OF STUDY