Midrash
- 5784, Aaron, Bo, Egypt, Exodus, Ibn Ezra, Judges, Midrash, Moses, Parsha, Pharaoh, Plagues, Prophet, Rashi, Shemot, Vaera, Voice
How to be אלהים…
As G!d continued to guide Moshe and share what would be involved in being an agent of redemption from slavery for the Hebrew people in parashat Vaera, G!d stated at the beginning of chapter…
-
Re-Location
The third parsha of the year, Lekh Lekha, sends us into the unknown – or at least, begins that journey for our textual ancestors. In Debbie Friedman’s Lechi Lach, the simple words remind…
- 5781, Abraham, Akedah, Cliffhanger, Dissertation Diary, Doubt, Genesis, Hagar, Isaac, Ishmael, Mamre, Midrash, Parsha, Provision, Sacrifice, Sarah, Sodom, Trust, Vayera, Visitors
In With the New…Doesn’t Get Rid of the Old
The fourth parsha of our year is intense: beginning with a birth announcement and ending with a near-death experience. Well, technically, beginning with a newly-named Abraham sitting in his tent’s opening…waiting? hoping? wondering?…
- 5781, Ark, Bible, Canon, Climate Change, Climate Crisis, Creativity, Dissertation Diary, Genesis, Interpretation, Kabbalah, Midrash, Noach, Parsha, The Met, Yiddish
Drowning in Interpretation
We’re only on the second week of 5781’s Torah reading cycle, reading no more than six chapters a week. This is a reminder that the Bible, whatever form this takes for you (39…
- 5780, Abimelech, Abraham, Akedah, Bereshit, Dissertation Diary, Genesis, Hagar, Hospitality, Ishmael, Lot, Messiah, Midrash, Parsha, Philo, Sarah, Sister Wives, Sodom, Theophany, Vayera
Our Ancestral Drama: Comedy or Tragedy?
The laughing started last week, but argument, sin, confusion, and oppression are quick on the heels of such mirth. In a parsha that begins with guests, hospitality, and a theophany, the human condition…
- Benjamin, Bereshit, Bible, Brothers, Chanukah, Connection, Human Experience, Jacob, Joseph, Komps Kaos, Midrash, Nation, Parsha, Torah, Vayigash
Coming Back to Family
I’m sad that Chanukah’s over, but really had a wonderful eight days of lights, friends, latkes, Torah, & apocrypha (haha!). This year is made a lot brighter by new friends, more synagogue involvement,…
- 5779, Barrenness, Bilhah, Fertility, Genealogy, Generations, Jacob, Journey, Komps Kaos, Laban, Leah, Midrash, Parsha, Rachel, Sister Wives, Tribe, Vayetzei, Zilpah
Sister-Wives for Real
Our foremothers did a lot of kvetching & worrying about fertility. Barrenness is a recurring theme in scripture for these important matriarchs, yet we rarely remember their recorded struggle to conceive. The first…
- Academia, Archaeology, Bible, Creativity, Dreams, Family, Friends, Haifa, Homeland, HUC, Israel, Jerusalem, Midrash, Mishnah, PhD, Talmud, Tel Aviv, Tel Dan, Tel Gezer, Travel
Back to the Land
A short update from a long year (hence the void of posts – sometime I will get through a full Torah cycle): In a week, I will have completed my Ph.D. coursework. How…
- 5778, Days of Awe, Gemara, Haazinu, High Holidays, Interpretation, Listening, Liturgy, Midrash, Moses, New Year, Praise, Prayer, Rosh Hoshannah, Textual Criticism, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur
5778 Ways to Listen This Year
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Clearly I need to make some resolutions, like getting through the whole year on here…oh well, maybe after I finish coursework (this year!) you’ll see some improvements. But really –…
