On Wednesday morning, as I studied my 929 Project daily chapter of Tanakh, I realized that it sounded very familiar. Ezekiel 37 begins with the famous vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. But then it continued with another metaphor, one that sounded even more familiar. Then it hit me that this passage was the Continue Reading »
When the Torah wants to say that something exists or will exist in unimaginable quantity, it uses the term “kehol hayam–like the sand of the sea.” We recognize this expression from the promise to Avraham about the number of his offspring (an analogy that alternates with “stars in the heavens”). This week, in Parshat Miketz, it Continue Reading »
As if the sibling rivalries of earlier generations didn’t produce enough anxiety for the Biblical reader, now we have a generation with a dozen brothers from four different mothers, and there’s even more rivalry. From chapter 37 of Genesis until the end of the book, we are telling the story of Yosef, who becomes the Continue Reading »
After all the practical and emotional preparation that went into his encounter with Esav after 20 years of estrangement, you can imagine that Ya’akov figured he was entitled to some peace and quiet. The Torah narrates that this expectation is fulfilled: “Vayavo Ya’akov shalem ‘ir Shekhem–Jacob arrived safe in the city of Shekehm…” (Genesis 33:18). Continue Reading »
Yitzhak suffers from Middle Patriarch Syndrome. In most of the Torah’s narrative about him, he is passive, primarily acted upon. Think of the Akedah, in which is literally bound to an altar, and the story of Rivkah and Ya’akov deceiving him into giving the blessing to the younger of his twin sons. But this week’s Torah Continue Reading »
Though Avraham has just buried his beloved wife Sarah, the Torah anticipates his final years as truly golden. “Avraham was now old, advanced in years; and the LORD had blessed Avraham in all things” (Genesis 24:1). The Hebrew word translated as “in all things” is bakol. Of course, the narrative that follows focuses on the one Continue Reading »
Last week, we learned about the entourage that accompanied Avram and Sarai as they made their way toward the Promised Land. Commenting on the phrase about that entourage, “and the persons they had acquired in Haran” (Genesis 12:5), Rashi described these people–literally nefesh, “souls,” as the newest converts to the belief in one God. “[These were] Continue Reading »
If you hear or read anyone saying that Judaism has a clear teaching that should be guiding Israel’s strategy to secure the release of the more than 220 people held hostage in Gaza, you should be deeply skeptical. That’s because there is no way that such a complex moral issue can have one clear answer. Continue Reading »
In the beginning, God created the world, with humanity as the crowning achievement. Ten generations later, God regretted creating humanity and destroyed almost all of it. And then God made a rainbow as a promise that never again would God bring such a deluge upon us. I’ve been thinking a lot about the promise and Continue Reading »
The very same Torah portion that includes the creation of humankind Betzelem Elohim, in the Divine image, also includes the first destruction of a human being, Cain’s murder of Abel. Nahum Sarna, in his JPS commentary on Genesis, captures the literary power of this story: “The first recorded death is not from natural causes but by Continue Reading »
