Parashat Miketz always falls during Hanukkah. As such we search it for insights at this darkest, coldest time of the year, and it does not disappoint – more, it can overwhelm. Consider the terrible emotional ambiguity of just one question that arises from study of the parashah: “How is it that Joseph, after living many years inContinue reading “Shabbat Miketz: Ambiguity is Painful”
Monthly Archives: December 2022
Shabbat VaYeshev: Not Home Yet
וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יַעֲקֹ֔ב בְּאֶ֖רֶץ מְגוּרֵ֣י אָבִ֑יו בְּאֶ֖רֶץ כְּנָֽעַן “Jacob settled in the land where his parents had lived” – Gen 37.1 The narrative of Jewish history, that is to say the story we tell ourselves about who we are and where we come from, is rooted in the myth of a garden. Eden, as the mythicalContinue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: Not Home Yet”
Shabbat VaYishlakh: Moving Past Anger
וַיָּ֨רׇץ עֵשָׂ֤ו לִקְרָאתוֹ֙ וַֽיְחַבְּקֵ֔הוּ וַיִּפֹּ֥ל עַל־צַוָּארָ֖ו וַׄיִּׄשָּׁׄקֵ֑ׄהׄוּׄ וַיִּבְכּֽוּ׃ Esau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept. (Gen 33.4) Rabbi Yannai said, why is [the word ‘kissed’] dotted? it teaches that [Esav] came not to kiss [Yaakov] but to bite him, but our ancestor Yaakov’s neck becameContinue reading “Shabbat VaYishlakh: Moving Past Anger”
Shabbat VaYetze: This is a holy place, and I didn’t know it!
“What if this is the darkness not of the tomb, but of the womb?” – Valarie Kaur, Revolutionary Love Project In our parashat hashavua a young Jacob is on the lam. He is escaping the rupture of his family relationships, with no clear sense of what he is running toward. He flees his brother’s wrath,Continue reading “Shabbat VaYetze: This is a holy place, and I didn’t know it!”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 