Parshat Beshallach (Exodus 13:17–17:16) By Naomi Gurt Lind | January 11, 2022 Some parshiyot are so eventful it’s hard to believe it all fits into one parsha. Beshallach is like that. In Parshat Beshallach, miracles large and small tumble by like waves. The story begins with God sending the Israelites toward the wilderness after they finally leave Egypt. Going the direct way would have taken this fractious, traumatized people in the line of fire of an ongoing battle, so instead... Read more
Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16) By Rabbi Tiferet Berenbaum | January 5, 2022 “Turn it and turn it for everything is in it,” we read in Pirkei Avot 5:22—“it” being the Torah. Elsewhere in Pirkei Avot we read, “Torah k’neged kulam,” Torah is relevant to everything. These verses are often cited when we are searching for a connection between our current realities and the Torah text. This week’s parasha, however, requires no such justification. Parashat Bo describes the final three plagues... Read more
Parasha Vaera (Exodus 6:2-9:35) By Rabbi Jim Morgan | Dec 30, 2021 We approach Parashat Vaera at a particularly dark time and on the cusp of the secular new year, when the impulse towards retrospection feels irresistible. Indeed, I began this year of 2021 with great hope, both personally and nationally. I work as a geriatric chaplain, and had scheduled my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for the morning of January 6, 2021, which was also the day that Congress... Read more
Shemot (Exodus 1:1–6:1) By Rev. Tom Reid | Dec 21, 2021 The episode of the “Burning Bush” (Exodus 3-4) is one of the most well-known in all of the TaNaKh (Hebrew Bible). As a graduate of the University of Kansas, this episode often makes me think of the seal of my alma mater, which features Moses kneeling before the burning bush—an embodied symbol of the scholar kneeling humbly before wisdom, thus bringing a holy aura to the academic pursuit of... Read more
Parashat Vayechi (Genesis 47:28–50:26) By Rabbi Neal Gold | December 13, 2021 Does Judaism have a “secret handshake”—a coded way of “speaking Jewish” within the family, so to speak? A wonderful midrash offers a whimsical take on that question. In the final chapter of Genesis, we read of the deaths of both Jacob and Joseph. And we learn that the Israelites’ standing in Egypt has changed radically during the years between the demise of father and son. Jacob was buried... Read more
Parashat Vayigash (Genesis 44:18–47:27) By Rabbi Max Edwards | December 7, 2021 After many years of distance between Jacob and his son Joseph, we read of a remarkable reunion in Parashat Vayigash. Certain that Joseph died long ago, it takes a moment for Jacob to internalize the words of his children who inform him that Joseph, his beloved son, is still alive and thriving in Egypt: They went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land... Read more
Parashat Miketz, Genesis 41:1–44:17 By Rav Hazzan Ken Richmond | December 01, 2021 Hanukkah always arrives at a dark time of year, when we in New England are feeling the urge to hibernate. The days are shorter, the weather colder; Shabbat begins and ends in the late afternoon. The outside activities and pleasures of summer and fall are diminishing, along with the chances to socialize, to linger, to eat with friends outdoors. Despite having experienced these seasonal shifts annually for... Read more
Parashat Vayeshev (Genesis 37:1–40:23) By Matthew Schultz | November 22, 2021 The Torah speaks in the language of fractals—never ending patterns that are identical at both the level of the micro and the macro. Fractals are everywhere in nature. Think, for instance, of a fern. Under a magnifying lens, each leaf appears to be a fern itself, with its own leaves, each of which are—in turn—shaped like ferns. The fractal nature of the Torah is nowhere more clear than in Parashat Vayeishev,... Read more
Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43) By Rabbi Gray Myrseth | November 15, 2021 He said, “Let me go, for dawn is breaking,” but he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (Genesis 32:27) I land at your feet and the sky comes down. Falls into my open mouth. Rain pours down my throat, lightning glances off my teeth. I only wanted to touch you and now the span of the heavens fills my chest. The way I... Read more
Parashat Vayetze (Genesis 28:10-32:3) By Leah Carnow | November 9, 2021 As I write, I am in Jerusalem, studying during my third year of rabbinical school. Each day here I am reminded of how much I love the way Hebrew feels on my tongue, how much joy I derive from using Hebrew to talk about both the most mundane and the most meaningful experiences of life. Speaking in Hebrew makes me feel proud, like I belong here. And each day,... Read more
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