Friday, October 15, 2021/9 Heshvan, 5782 Parashat Lech L’cha Genesis 12:1−17:27 Dear Friends, Yesterday, I had the honor of participating in the oldest recorded religious ritual in the world. The Brit Milah, or ritual circumcision, is the first ritual we know of, dating back to the stories of Abraham. Indeed, it is such an honor […]
The Binding of Isaac “Take your son, your only son, the one you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” (Gen. 22:2) Thus begins one of the most famous episodes in the Torah, but also one of the most morally problematic. The conventional reading […]
Friday, October 15, 2021/9 Heshvan, 5782 Parashat Lech L’cha Genesis 12:1−17:27 Dear Friends, Sometimes no words are sufficient for the grandeur in our souls. Just a few days ago, William Shatner set off into space. Upon entering weightlessness, the only words he could utter were, “No description can equal this… Oh wow. Oh, my goodness… […]
Friday, October 8, 2021/2 Heshvan, 5782 Parashat Noah Genesis 6:9-11:32 Dear Friends, Noah is the only character in the Torah directly referred to as a tzaddik, a righteous man. The first verse of this week’s Torah portion says, “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his generation.” (Genesis 6:9) The sages explained that […]
How Perfect were the Matriarchs and Patriarchs? In an extraordinary series of observations on this week’s parsha, Ramban (Nahmanides, 1194 – 1270) delivers harsh criticisms of Abraham and Sarah. The first has to do with Abraham’s decision to leave the land of Canaan and go to Egypt because “there was a famine in the land.” […]
Beyond Nature Are we naturally good or naturally bad? On this, great minds have argued for a very long time indeed. Hobbes believed that we have naturally “a perpetual and restless desire of power after power, that ceaseth only in Death.”[1] We are bad, but governments and police can help limit the harm we do. Rousseau […]
Today Insures Our Future Linda Rubin Marla Shwarts No doubt we would all agree that we benefitted significantly from reading our Temple Beth El family’s Elul Reflections from last month. Rereading them and perhaps even saving them has opened our hearts and minds to the opportunity to grow, learn, love, forgive, and understand one another […]
