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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 Read More >

By Rabbi Bob Freedman I am fascinated by the servant of Abraham whom Abraham charges with the task of finding a wife for his son Isaac. It seems likely that the servant is Eliezer of Damascus, whom at one point Abraham wanted to make his heir. Here he is only called eved (servant), but that Read More >

How Much Love is Too Much? By Rabbi Judith Edelstein This week's parashah, Toldot, was my son's Bar Mitzvah portion 13 years ago. I can still vividly recall teaching him Torah and Haftarah chanting. We started nine months before the date because he wanted to read as much of the parashah that he could. This was what his classmates Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann Parashat Vayeitzei speaks of Jacob's sojourn in Haran after fleeing from Eretz Canaan (the Land of Canaan) to escape Esau's wrath. As he comes into Haran, Jacob engages in a dialogue with some of the shepherds of that town who have just arrived at the watering well with their sheep and are Read More >

By Rabba Kaya Stern-Kaufman This week's parashah, Va-Yishlah focuses on the homeward journey of Jacob and his family. This entire sidrah seems to swing widely between the poles of blessing and calamity. While the overt context of the parashah focuses on Jacob's inner and outward journeys, the feminine voices within the family are struck down Read More >

By Rabbi Dorit Edut As many of us exit the theater, having just seen the new Spielberg movie "Lincoln", we cannot help but think about the impact this great president had on our world to this day through his courageous decision to put an end to slavery in this country. This act of great justice Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin Why do we celebrate Hanukkah? Why is it not commemorated in the Bible or in the Mishnah? And what lessons does it have for our time? Hanukkah commemorates the clash of Judaism with the dominant Hellenistic civilization of late antiquity. Not only did the Syrian king Antiochus seek to impose pagan Read More >

By Rabbi Bob Freedman Torah can be read as a treatise on exile. Its stories about being driven out from life's comfort zone, from family, from community, or from the presence of God, repeat again and again, each time with a different slant. Not all end in return! Adam and Eve were driven out of Read More >

By Rabbi Judith Edelstein When Is a Blessing a Curse? Shabbat provides us with a number of pivotal rituals for transformation. In the home, in particular, the first of these occurs for me after I light the Shabbos candles. Although I have already ignited them, nevertheless, I am filled with joy as I see the Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann There are certain verses or expressions in the Torah that lend themselves to a multiplicity of interpretations despite their having a simple plain meaning (referred to hereafter as peshat). One of these is found in this week's sidra of Shemot that describes Moses' very first action as an adult. The Torah Read More >