By Rabbi Gita Karasov Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16) One of the ways I like to end classes I teach is by asking participants to go around the room and fill in the sentence: “I now know…” This prompt gives people a chance to ask themselves what they have learned. “What do I know about myself, the text, this tradition, that I didn’t know an hour ago?” This is both a helpful tool for me to hear what people are taking... Read more
By Naomi Gurt Lind, Hebrew College rabbinical student Parashat Shmot Exodus 1:1-6:1 Some years ago, when I was relatively new to Torah learning and eager to explore, I was doing parsha study with a group of friends, and we encountered this verse. וַיָּקׇם מֶלֶךְ־חָדָשׁ עַל־מִצְרָיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדַע אֶת־יוֹסֵף׃ And there arose over Egypt a new king who knew not Josef. (Exodus 1:8) Familiar from my family’s rendering of the Pesach seder, this was a verse that felt like I’d always... Read more
Since the US election two months ago, and over the course of the devastating war in Israel and Gaza, I have been plagued with a feeling of alienation. In both America and Israel, the gap between the way the world is and the way I believe it should be grows ever wider. And, despite significant effort on my part, I don’t know how to fix things—how to bridge the ideological, social, and spiritual divides that make progress so elusive. This... Read more
By Rabbi Michael Shire Parashat Va-Yiggash (Genesis 44:18-47:27) What makes a Patriarch a patriarch? What makes a Matriarch a matriarch? Genesis provides the stories of characters in each generation, some of whom we have designated as leaders of their generation, ultimately including them in our prayers. We do this for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah (Berakhot 16b:13-14). The rabbis suggest that each has a different relationship with God such that we repeat the phrase ‘God of…’ each... Read more
By Rabbi Becky Silverstein `14 (Parashat Miketz Genesis 41:1-44:17) A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting whose icebreaker question was, “What is your favorite night of Hanukkah.” Answers ranged from first to fourth to last, to questions about whether one lights like Hillel or Shammai (see Shabbat 21b). My favorite night is whatever night(s) that I can sit and take in the lights. Hanukkah lights have one sole purpose—to publicize the miracle of survival. While we are not supposed to... Read more
By Rav Hazzan Ken Richmond, Hebrew College Rabbinical School ’21 Parashat Vayeishev Genesis 37:1-40:23 As part of our recent late-night wind-down routine, I’ve been watching the show “Greenleaf,” which was recommended as a show with all the drama and intrigue of synagogue life and politics, but through the lens of a Southern, African-American church. The show, which explores wealth and power dynamics within the church and its leaders, has gotten me ruminating about the prosperity gospel. In Fiddler on the... Read more
By Rabbi Heather Retnezsky ’24 Parashat Vayishlach Genesis 32:4-36:43 In a parasha filled with high intensity moments—Jacob wrestling with an angel, Jacob and Esav’s reunion, and the rape of Dina (to name a few), Deborah’s death could be easy to miss: וַיִּבֶן שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ וַיִּקְרָא לַמָּקוֹם אֵל בֵּית־אֵל כִּי שָׁם נִגְלוּ אֵלָיו הָאֱלֹהִים בְּבָרְחוֹ מִפְּנֵי אָחִיו וַתָּמָת דְּבֹרָה מֵינֶקֶת רִבְקָה וַתִּקָּבֵר מִתַּחַת לְבֵית־אֵל תַּחַת הָאַלּוֹן וַיִּקְרָא שְׁמוֹ אַלּוֹן בָּכוּת׃ (7) There [Jacob] built an altar and named the site El-bethel,... Read more
By Rabbi Shira Shazeer ’10, Hebrew College Rabbinical School Parashat Vayetzei Genesis 28:10-32:3 Working with high school students, one of my pastimes has become learning the new ways kids these days use language. It makes me feel clever to be able to understand what they are saying, and occasionally to use one of my new vocabulary words, always ironically and intentionally to see the “cringe” they evoke. This year, as the students entering high school turn the corner from youngest... Read more
Parashat Toldot Genesis 25:19-28:9 In this week’s Torah portion, we encounter Rebecca, our matriarch, in the midst of a moment of deep personal struggle. She is pregnant with twins, and as the children struggle within her, she feels their turmoil and her own pain. In her distress, she asks,“Im ken, lama zeh anochi?” – “If so, why I?” (Genesis 25:22). At first glance, Rebecca’s question might appear to be a cry of frustration or despair, an expression of her physical... Read more
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Reverential Doubt
By Rabbi Genevieve Greinetz Parashat Vaera Exodus 6:2-9:35 A few days ago, I returned from leading an attempted meditation retreat at Brandeis Bardin in the northern LA area. Two days in, the Pacific Palisades fire broke out and within twelve hours, fires were blazing all around the area. The closest fire was burning 28 miles away, so we were relatively safe, but “safe” in a way that felt porous and impacted. Mulling over Parashat Vaera in the wind one day,... Read more