Category Torah

Parashat Sh’mot

A few weeks ago, the film Exodus – Kings and Gods was launched and, in anticipation of the upcoming Torah readings about the liberation of the Israelites from slavery, I decided to watch the movie. I wanted to see how…

Vayechi

Year 3 Genesis 49:27-50:26 (Plaut p 313; Hertz p 187) Haftarah I Kings 2:1-12 (Plaut p 323; Hertyz p 191) Jacob’s final blessing to his children and grandchildren precedes demand that he be buried in the ancestral grave in Hebron…

Vayiggash

Year 3 Genesis 46:28-47:27 (Plaut p 293; Hertz p 174) Haftarah Ezekiel 37:15-28 (Plaut p 302; Hertz p 178) The great re-union of Joseph and his aged father Jacob/Israel lead to a welcome for all of Bet Yisraeil—the House of…

Hanukkah

Stories have great power. We tell stories about ourselves and about our communities because they give our lives meaning, and they help us navigate between the past and the future. We use stories to help us make sense of the…

Vayeishev

Genesis 39:1-40:23 (Plaut p 252; Hertz p 147. ) Haftarah Amos 2:6-3:8. (Plaut p 263; Hertz p 152) The parashah tells the stories of how Jacob’s other sons sold Joseph into captivity in Egypt, of how Judah wronged his daughter-in-law…