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”
Tag Archives: Joseph
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 Miketz: Survival Tip for 2020 – Remember Who You Are
s/he was bullied by siblings. s/he was terrorized by being thrown in a pit and ignored. s/he was sold into slavery in a strange society. s/he knew neither the language nor the customs. s/he was accused of crime s/he had not committed. s/he was thrown in a dungeon and forgotten. In parashat Miketz, Joseph modelsContinue reading “Shabbat Miketz: Survival Tip for 2020 – Remember Who You Are”
Shabbat Miketz: All of a Sudden, Change
You know where you stand, you know your path forward, you’ve spent time deciding what your future is going to look like. And then something happens, all of a sudden, and your plans….they get eaten up like the seven fat cows of Pharaoh’s dream. Every year we read parashat Miketz on a Shabbat that coincidesContinue reading “Shabbat Miketz: All of a Sudden, Change”
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”
Shabbat Miketz: Life Comes At You Fast
This week’s parashah is Miketz, which literally translates as “at the end”. In the Torah’s context, it refers to the end of two years’ time during which Joseph languishes, forgotten, in an Egyptian dungeon. The word ketz, “end”, is short and sharp. It echoes another key word of the parashah, vayikatz, which refers to the way in which Pharaoh startles awake after aContinue reading “Shabbat Miketz: Life Comes At You Fast”
Shabbat VaYigash: Who Are You Before You Were Hurt?
On this Shabbat the terrible game ends: brothers stop terrifying brothers, a parent is relieved of a horrifying lie, and we see the cessation of a generational dysfunction, all because of one – or, actually, two – heroic individuals. The parashat hashavua (the Torah reading of the week) is named for the key act that bringsContinue reading “Shabbat VaYigash: Who Are You Before You Were Hurt?”
Shabbat Miketz: Enough Already, Let’s Wake Up
This parashat hashavua (parashah of the week) is called Miketz, “at the end”. The word refers to a period of time, as the Torah specifies: “It was at the end of two years….” It describes the Egyptian Pharaoh in the grip of dreams that start out innocuously enough, but then turn into terrifying nightmares: happy, fat cows grazing on the lushContinue reading “Shabbat Miketz: Enough Already, Let’s Wake Up”
Shabbat VaYeshev: Choices and Exile
In this week’s parashah we follow Joseph down to Egypt. This is a time of terror for him: his brothers sell him as a slave and he is taken far away from home. He is bought by a minister to Pharaoh and seems to be doing well; he gains his master’s trust and is putContinue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: Choices and Exile”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 