Bridging Dreams and Reality Jacob dreams the first dream in the Torah. He is alone, the sun is setting, and the light is waning. In that dream Jacob understands that he is not alone, and he finds renewed strength to shape reality for the better. Our dreams shape who we are, and our realities shape […]
“Do not reach out your hand against the lad.” (Gen. 22:12) We are living in an insane reality in which we wake up each morning in anxiety, fearful of hearing news media telling us they “are now authorized to make public” news of yet another casualty of war and terrorism. The Hebrew poet Hayyim Guri, […]
The very heart of this week’s Torah portion, Ḥayyei Sarah, is the story of finding a bride for our forefather Isaac. It’s quite surprising to see the extent of the Torah’s attention to finding him a wife so close on the heels of the tale of his near-sacrifice (‘akedat Yitzḥak) and in particular so soon […]
“Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil.” The Hebrew word understood as “your brother” can be read (without its vowels) not in the singular, but in the plural: “Your brothers’ blood…,” the blood of our own brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers. The cries of widows and the tears of orphans […]
This year, “after the holidays” doesn’t represent a return to normal. As long as our enemies are fighting us and our hostages remain suffocating in Gaza, there is no “return” and no “normal.” Even when we arrive in the promised land (the day after the war), we cannot return to who we were before the […]
“Noah” means rest, comfort. Consolation? .ותמלא הארץ חמס The land was overrun by hamas. Consolation? Does Hamas rest? The Midrash interprets hamas as theft. Theft of what by whom? Theft that justifies annihilation? In Genesis, God gave humans and animals “every plant and tree to eat.” He commanded the first human (“Adam”) on earth “to […]
As the news comes at us fast and furious, I take a look at our synagogue community calendar and the schedule of services prepared for last year. Friday evening: hakafot for Simḥat Torah. Shabbat morning: shaḥarit, hakafot, the honors of Ḥatan Torah and Kallat Bereishit. A picture: children dance in a circle at the synagogue. […]
Sukkot provides an opportunity to think about the truly essential values of life. This week, the tottering sukkah reminds us of life’s fragility, of how ephemeral everything physical is. We do not need much help bringing all that to mind this year, as we still mourn those who were murdered or fell in battle, still […]
The Day of T’ruah: 101 Calls of the Shofar “The teru’ah which the Torah mentions … — we do not know what it is: whether it resembles the wailing with which the women cry when they moan, or the sighs which a person who is distressed about a major matter will release repeatedly, or perhaps […]
A shelter for the soul The Home Front Command urges us to properly prepare the shelters in our homes and in public places. They explain that it is a matter of saving lives—actual, physical lives. A shelter and the need to prepare it carefully it advance are not new. The Bible tells us about the […]