WUPJ Library

Recent Issues By: Benjie Gruber, Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism , Arava Region and Eilat Mistakes from our Ancestors from Generation to Generation In the Torah Portion we read this week, Vayishlach [ and he sent, Jacob sending messengers to his brother ] there is a small incident from which I believe we can learn […]

By: Rabbi Megan Doherty, Senior Jewish Fellow and Associate Rabbi, Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life at Yale , Connecticut, USA Jacob the Liar “He’s a heel,” my grandfather Fed used to say, describing someone who was untrustworthy in business or in friendship. Perhaps as a result of my grandfather’s teaching, I work very hard […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Steve Burnstein , director of the WUPJ Anita Saltz International Education Center I love my children. They really are quite amazing. We’re looking forward to parent-teacher conferences this week. Multiple times teachers have told us they wish they could clone our kids; that they are absolutely charming and well-mannered youngsters. We […]

By: Rabbi Danny Burkeman, The Community Synagogue , Port Washington, NY The Pride of our Name In 1947 the United Nations adopted the Partition Plan for Palestine which proposed the creation of two states – one Jewish and one Arab – in the following year. This vote approved the creation of a Jewish State, but […]

By: Rabbi Dr. John Levi, Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Israel , Melbourne, Australia “Angels” Have you met any aggressive angels recently? Our patriarch Jacob did. The encounter changed his life and his name and, forever afterwards, he would walk with a limp. Angels make frequent appearances in Jewish tradition. Well, we call them “angels”, […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Brad L. Bloom MSW DD, Congregation Beth Yam , Hilton Head, South Carolina Jacob spends a night in the desert after fleeing his brother Esau. He has left Be’er Sheva and was headed to the old country of Haran to seek out the family from his ethnic roots. He camps out […]

Recent Issues Rabbi Rene Pfertzel, The Liberal Jewish Synagogue , London, UK / Keren Or , Lyon, France Vayetze : and (Jacob) came out. This is a very interesting way of starting a new parasha, but, of course, it is not a story about a coming out as we could understand this expression today. But […]

By: Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor, Vice President, Philanthropy, World Union for Progressive Judaism Learning from Jacob, the Weekend Warrior of Faith There is a popular expression: “In every life a little rain must fall.” That is not only true, but very much reflected in the philosophy and the teachings of Judaism. Judaism is an imminently […]

By: Rabbi Josh Jacobs-Velde , Rabbi of Congregation Ohev Tzedek , Youngstown, Ohio Heading into a Place of “Divine Anger” For this teaching, I would like to draw on the psychological-spiritual wisdom of Hasidism, particularly the teaching of the Chernobler rebbe, Menachem Nahum Twersky. Also known as the Me’or Eynaim (the title of his most […]

By: Rabbi Howard Cooper , Director of Spiritual Development, Finchley Reform Synagogue , London, UK Jacob’s Dream and the Inner Journey If, as the poet Stephen Spender observed, “the language of a nation, embodied in its literature, is its spiritual life”, then the twelve verses that contain the dream of the patriarch Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22) […]

By: Rabbi Gary M. Bretton-Granatoor, Vice President – Philanthropy, World Union for Progressive Judaism “The Rabbi and the Rosary” All stories that teach a lesson are “true,” but some are also factual. This story is true and factual… Based on an event that occurred in 1999 Although my role as Program Chair of the International […]

Recent Issues By: Rabbi Lisa J. Grushcow, D.Phil., Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom , Montreal, Canada Identity and Authenticity “These are the generations of Isaac son of Abraham; Abraham begat Isaac” (Gen. 25:19). The rabbis who commented on the opening words of our parasha were anxious. The presenting problem was the repetition: if the Torah has already […]