Two good things are near to you and far from you, far from you and near to you: Repentance is near to you and far from you, far from you and near to you. Death is near to you and far from you, far from you and near to you. – Kohelet Rabbah 8.17 In parashatContinue reading “Shabbat VaYekhi: Deathbed Blessings”
Tag Archives: Jacob
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 VaYehi: Death and Love
It is far easier to talk about loss than it is to talk about love. It is easier to articulate the pain of love’s absence than to describe its presence and meaning in our lives. – bell hooks I believe profoundly in the power of Torah learning to help us deepen our spiritual grounding andContinue reading “Shabbat VaYehi: Death and Love”
Shabbat VaYishlakh: Becoming Whole By Becoming Oneself
There’s a crack in everything – that’s how the light gets in – Leonard Cohen ז״ל In this week’s parashah, the eponymous ancestor of the People of Israel is given the name Israel. The deceiving, conniving, too smart by half Jacob has apparently achieved some kind of transition. The people Israel has for two thousandContinue reading “Shabbat VaYishlakh: Becoming Whole By Becoming Oneself”
Shabbat VaYeshev: Minority Status
Hanukkah begins on Sunday December 2 at sundown. We always find it in proximity to the parashat hashavua which we study this week, VaYeshev. The word means “he returned” but we might also read it as “here we go again.” One month after the massacre of our fellow Jews joined in Shabbat prayer in Pittsburgh,Continue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: Minority Status”
Shabbat VaYetze: Can You See It?
Our ancestor Ya’akov, or Jacob as he is called in English, is the most fully developed, most flawed, most human character of all the Matriarchs and Patriarchs of Jewish tradition. Named, basically, for the word “heel” in Hebrew because he was born holding his twin brother Esau’s heel, he acts the part throughout his youth. JustContinue reading “Shabbat VaYetze: Can You See It?”
Shabbat VaYekhi: Your New Day’s Resolution
Taking advantage of what is, interestingly enough after all, only an arbitrary way of calculating a turning point in the counting of our days (why not solstice?), this is the time of year when our society focuses upon the idea of making new year’s resolutions. Jews practice a variation of this idea on Yom Kippur,Continue reading “Shabbat VaYekhi: Your New Day’s Resolution”
Shabbat VaYetze: Give Me Children Or I Will Die
This week’s parashah finds Jacob leaving home, going to a new community and creating family there. The resonance is obvious here for so many of us, for whom it is natural to expect to create our families and our future in a place different from the one in which we grew up. For Jacob, aContinue reading “Shabbat VaYetze: Give Me Children Or I Will Die”
(next week) Shabbat VaYehi: What’s the Last Word?
Our parashat hashavua this week concludes not only the Book Bereshit but also the saga of Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, and that entire generation. One of the most fascinating passages in the parashah describes Jacob, on his deathbed, and his last words to his sons. Although we refer to the scene as Jacob’s deathbedContinue reading “(next week) Shabbat VaYehi: What’s the Last Word?”
Shabbat VaYeshev: Return, O Light, and We will Return to You
This is as dark as it’s going to get. From here on out, the light of the sun returns to us, slowly, day by day. Darkness settles on us human beings like an oppressive cloak. Like Jacob and his sons in our parashat hashavua, we might even lose our grip on what’s real, and what’sContinue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: Return, O Light, and We will Return to You”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 