WUPJ Library

Rabbi Michael Zedek | Emanuel Congregation, Chicago, USA This week’s Torah portion is rich in familial details and challenges, yet it begins with a man on the run, a person alone and uncertain what will become of him. So it is that the Patriarch Jacob comes upon a certain place, gathers stones of the place, […]

Rabbi Brad Bloom | Congregation Beth Yam, South Carolina, USA Parashat Toldot portrays a family in distress and a reminder about how families who do not communicate with each other will face a severing of relationships that oftentimes can never be healed.  Just think about the dynamics of this week’s Torah portion. It leads us […]

Rabbi Uri Lam | Congregation Beth-El, São Paulo, Brazil And the Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from your land and your birthplace and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1) And Abraham said to his servant (…): “To my land and to my birthplace you shall go, and […]

Rabbi Dr. Rena Arshinoff, PhD | Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Canada Recent world events and the covid-19 pandemic can leave little for us to laugh at. In fact, we might even feel guilty if we laugh these days. A few weeks ago, I met with a colleague of mine in my office. During […]

Rabbi Jeremy R. Weisblatt | Temple Ohav Shalom, Pennsylvania, USA It has always surprised me about Abraham (Abram at this point in the Torah) that he hasn’t learned his lesson about conflict. Abraham has just left Egypt and Pharaoh behind, having nearly created an enemy through his deceit that was caused by his fear of […]

The Divine One is no ordinary parent. After creating the earth and all the beings within it and seeing what a mess that humans can make of it, God makes an amazing and brilliant parental statement: “I will clean up your mess only once. Creation is a miracle and a gift to you. Whether you make the best or the worst of it, the consequences and responsibility are yours.”

Rabbi Matthew Kaufman, PhD | Congregation Kehillat Israel, Michigan, USA “God said, ‘Let us make Adam in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.’” (Genesis 1:26) At the very moment […]

Rabbi David Feder | Temple Beth Israel-Shaare Zedek, Ohio, USA Shmini Atzeret, the Eighth Day of Assembly, is nearly forgotten as a festival. Even in ancient times, it seemed as if people just wanted to make it an additional day of Sukkot and the rabbis had to create means by which to separate it from […]

Rabbi Dr. Steven Moss | Rabbi Emeritus of B’nai Israel Reform Temple, New York, USA “Celebrate this as a festival to Adonai for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in temporary shelters for seven days: All native-born Israelites […]

Three poems in the Torah are ascribed to Moses himself. The first in order of appearance is Shirat Hayam, the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15). The third is V’zot Habracha (Deuteronomy 33), in which Moses blesses the Israelite tribes before they cross the Jordan to go into the land. The second poem, named after its first word, Ha’azinu- Give ear, yields the name of our parasha.

By Rabbi Jonas Jacquelin | After each set of the shofar blowing during the Rosh Hashana service we say “Hayom Harat Olam”: “Today is the Birthday of the Word” or perhaps more precisely “Today is the gestation of the World”.

We approach 5781 after a summer (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) which has been different, to say the least. Few summer camps were operating, most people adjusted their summer travel plans to account for the reality swirling about us, and many of us just stayed close to home.