Chayei Sarah and the Case of the Missing Person By Rabbi Fred Morgan, Senior Rabbi Temple Beth Israel, Melbourne, Australia Eleven years ago my son celebrated his bar-mitzvah on Shabbat Chayei Sarah. As rabbi of the congregation, I always knew what I was going to say on his bar-mitzvah. Though he was born during Sukkot […]
Recent Issues The Morning After: Iran, Ishmael, and Isaac By Rabbi Mark L. Winer, President of FAITH : the Foundation to Advance Interfaith Trust and Harmony since 1995. MBE PhD DD is a British/American interfaith scholar and leader. In 2014 Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) […]
Recent Issues By: Rabbi Morley Feinstein, Senior Rabbi of University Synagogue in Los Angeles, and Ari Feinstein, 3rd year Masters in Jewish Education student, HUC , Los Angeles. Abraham the Empathic Listener The beginning of Parashat Vayeira is often recalled as the narrative of Abraham bargaining with God, but let’s analyze that perception. After all, […]
By: Rabbi Sue Levy member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association Isaac’s Bar Mitsvah Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. God said to him, ‘Abraham,’ and he answered, ‘Here I am.’ And God said, ‘Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer […]
By: Rabbi Tirzah Ben-David, Shir Hatzafon Progressive Congregation , Copenhagen, Denmark The Edge of Understanding Whether we are Reform or Orthodox, or anything in between, the Jewish Bible is the raw material of our religious imagination, and Genesis in particular is our great storybook. This week’s parashah , Vayera, narrates the key story of the […]
By: Rabbi Ann Blitzstein Folb , Temple Sholom , Galesburg, IL “The Progeny of Abraham” Parashat Vayera is rich with stories that are well known to us and which teach us many lessons, although to be sure, they do not always seem to tell us consistent things about either God or Abraham. The same Abraham […]
By: Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Director, Anita Saltz International Education Center , World Union for Progressive Judaism Recent Issues “The Best Lack All Conviction, While the Worst are Full of Passionate Intensity” So this is the parsha that we think about every Rosh Hashanah, the one that they drilled into our heads in rabbinical school, that […]
By: Rabbi Uri Lam, Congregação Israelita Mineira (CIM), Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil I have read and meditated on the midrashim so many times that I can no longer imagine the Torah without the rich many interpretation of our brilliant Rabbis, continuing to multiply from the Talmudic times to our days. They go so far […]
Recent Issues By: Rabbi Joan Glazer Farber , is Co-director of Hevreh : A Community of Adult Jewish Learners A Journey of a Lifetime In my family, it has been a time of journeys and transitions. Our daughter and son-in-law became parents and then moved back to New York. Our son had been touring with […]
Recent Issues “Where are you going?” It was a question I was asked by many of my friends. And each time, the answer was the same. “I don’t know. But something is compelling me. I just have to go.” Invariably, when I returned, the first question was the same as the first, “Where did you […]