“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” – William Faulkner The denouement of the Joseph saga occurs at the beginning of this week’s parashat VaYigash. The great dramatic moment comes when Judah courageously steps forward. He does so to accept the burden of the family’s great hidden sin: that of the brothers’ selling JosephContinue reading “Shabbat VaYigash: Stepping Away from the Past, Shaping the Future”
Tag Archives: Judah
Shabbat VaYeshev: Justice by the Light of the Hanukkah Menorah
You may very well be wrong in your first impression – Love, Tamar In the second year of the Triennial Cycle of Torah reading, we find that the focus of the parashat hashavua (“Torah reading of the week”) is the story of Tamar in Bereshit, also called Genesis, in chapter 38. After the strange silence imposed upon Dinah inContinue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: Justice by the Light of the Hanukkah Menorah”
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 VaYigash: How To Become Israel
The famous part of this week’s parashah is at the very beginning: after weeks of build-up, the saga reaches its dramatic climax as Judah steps forward to confront the ruler of Egypt (not knowing that this ruler is his own little brother). In this single act of courage and emotional maturity, Judah breaks a tragicContinue reading “Shabbat VaYigash: How To Become Israel”
Shabbat VaYeshev: What Do You See in the Light?
One of my favorite English lines from an old siddur is from a Kaddish meditation: “in light we see; in light we are seen.” This kind of light is not only visible, of course; illumination can also be of the “aha” kind, when something suddenly clarifies in the mind. The universal illustration for that atContinue reading “Shabbat VaYeshev: What Do You See in the Light?”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 