Vayeira

by Cantor Sandy Horowitz
Look back and die!
Such is the fate of Lot’s wife in Parashat Vayeira.

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS EARLIER: Lot has been living in Sodom, city of sin destined for destruction by God. On the eve of destruction, angels come knocking on his door, for the purpose of warning him to flee. He invites them in, feeds them, and then tries to protect them when the townsmen demand that he turn his guests over to them for their sexual sport. Lot offers up his two unmarried daughters in exchange for the guests’ safety; the angel-guests intervene just in time.

Next morning, Lot and his family heed the warning and depart Sodom, leaving behind their two married daughters. As Lot departs we read, “Vayitmamah” (“And he lingered”, Genesis 19:16). This word is chanted using shalshelet, an elaborate cantillation trope which occurs only three other times in the Torah. Shalshelet‘s duration is long and the tone Read More >

Vayeirah
Hazzan Marcia Lane

Let me just say, straight off, that choosing one or other episode from this week’s parashah, like all the parshiyot of the book of Genesis, is a tricky proposition. Shall I address the story of Abraham and Sarah and their angelic visitors, but ignore the Akedah, the binding of Isaac? For synagogues that follow the triennial reading of the Torah, the big event this week will be the destruction of Sodom and Gemorrah, but we will also read about the king of Gerar, Avimelech, and how he took Sarah into his household, thinking that she was Abraham’s sister. The banishment of Hagar and Ishmael? You can see the problem here; the Torah portion is simply too good. Too packed with juicy stories. But there is a thread that connects these episodes. Our Torah portion introduces two important and inter-connected mitzvot (commandments): bikkur holim (visiting the sick) and hakhnasat Read More >

By Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman

This week’s Torah portion tells the story of several crisis points in the life of one ancient family. As the parashah opens, the family constellation includes husband Abraham, first wife- Sarah, surrogate mother-Hagar and the firstborn son of Hagar and Abraham-Ishmael. The text begins with the annunciation of Isaac’s birth. As foretold, Sarah miraculously becomes pregnant and gives birth to Isaac at the age of 90. It is difficult to imagine the complicated dynamics in this unusual family situation. As the story unravels before us, so too do these relationships that have been tenuously held together by the need to ensure the future lineage of Abraham.

For thirteen years Ishmael was the treasured firstborn. Though his mother was first a servant in the household, one might wonder what has become of her status over these years. As the mother of Abraham’s firstborn, what kind of relationship do she and Abraham Read More >

Every year we read the same parashiyot, in the same order, always finding something new. This year, my discovery came last Rosh HaShanah, when I reviewed this week’s parashah, Vayera.
 
We all know Parashat Vayera. Angels visit Abraham, Abraham argues with God, God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters have interesting, incestuous relationships, Sarah has her long-awaited son, Sarah expels Hagar and Ishmael from the camp, and, well, let’s stop there.
 
As we all know, there are no vowels in the Torah. For the pronunciation of the words, we depend on the Masoretes, those people who about 1,000 years ago punctuated the Torah, set it to music, and told us how the words should be pronounced. Because there are no vowels in the Torah, and because Hebrew is a phonetic language, any cluster of consonants can be pronounced in many ways, some of which will make sense and some of which will Read More >

By Laurie Levy

The verb reish-aleph-hey occurs three times in the first two verses of this week’s parashah. I think this points to a lesson about what it means to see – really see.

Last week we ended with Abraham circumcising himself and his household and so this week, when we read that Abraham is sitting at the entrance of his tent, we infer that he is recuperating from his recent surgery. Sitting there midday, God appears to him: “He lifted his eyes and, behold, he saw three men standing near him.” (Gen. 18:2) How is it that these strangers (who we later come to realize are angels of God)appear to him so suddenly in the middle of the desert?

The S’fat Emet, a 19th century Hasidic master, answers this question with a verse from Job, who, despite all the suffering he was experiencing in his body and on his skin, says: “In Read More >

By Jaron Matlow

Water is a very simple chemical molecule. It contains one Oxygen atom and two Hydrogen atoms, and it appears in the shape of the letter V. Despite its simplicity, or perhaps because of it, water has tremendous powers in the world of chemistry. These powers are the very reason life can exist on our planet.

Interestingly enough, water has a molecular weight of 18. The number 18 is, of course, very significant in the world of gematria, the study of the numerical value of Hebrew words. Gematria is based on values assigned to each Hebrew letter in their sequence in the Aleph-Bet. Aleph is one, bet is two, and so on. The number 18, is of course the value of the Hebrew word, Hai, (Yu’d, 10; He’t, 8) – meaning, to be alive. Thus in both the worlds of chemistry and the spiritual, water has a very significant meaning Read More >

By Jaron Matlow

In this week’s parashah, we find myriad fascinating events which are very difficult to understand. One example is the story of Sarah, Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac (21:9-13). The peak of this event (21:10) is that Sarah tells Abraham to drive out the slave woman (Hagar) and her son (Ishmael), because the son of this slave woman will not inherit with my son, with Isaac. This results in the very common thread in Sefer Bereishit (Genesis) – that the younger son is selected to carry on the line and the older son is somehow set aside. It is also important to remember that in Sefer Bereishit, it is often the wives who take the actions that ensure the younger son is selected.
The text tells (21:9) us that Ishmael did something to Isaac (metzaheik) which could mean various things from teasing or mocking to much worse actions. Read More >

By Rabbi Aryeh Meir

In this parashah we are shown both the greatness of Avraham and his response to difficulties and tests that he faces: He argues with God over the destruction of S’dom and Amora; he nearly loses Sarah to the king of Gerar; he is forced to expel Hagar and Ishmael; he nearly sacrifices Isaac at Mt. Moriah.

After these highly charged episodes, the Torah takes a break by recounting the genealogy of Nahor, the brother of Avraham.

Some time later, Abraham was told, ‘Milcah too has borne children to
your brother Nahor: Uz the first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel
the father of Aram; and Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and
Bethuel”Bethuel being the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore children: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah. (Genesis 22:20’24).

According to one modern Bible scholar, the genealogy comes here (following the binding Read More >