Sarah
- 5785, Abraham, Affliction, Conflict, Flood, Hagar, High Holidays, Ishmael, Israel, Matriarchs, Memory, Middle East, Mourning, Psalms, Sarah, Secondary Wives, War
Seeking to be Seen
I have never been happier to study the “secondary wives,” an often-forgotten group of people, and when remembered, almost always misunderstood. Who can be blamed – there is a dearth of information, missing…
- 5784, Abraham, Bereshit, Bilhah, Egypt, Genesis, Hagar, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Keturah, Leah, Matriarchs, Parsha, Patriarchs, Rachel, Rebekah, Sarah, Vayechi, Zilpah
Egypt in the End
The final parsha of Bereshit/Genesis, Vayechi, comes with an ending of what we have come to know as the originating line of Jewish/Israelite heritage, marked traditionally by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – with the…
- 5784, Bereshit, Bilhah, Genesis, Hellenistic Judaism, Jacob, Laban, Leah, Matriarchs, Parsha, Patriarchs, Philo, Rachel, Sarah, Stones, Tribe, Vayetzei, Zilpah
Setting up Stones
Last week I listened to the entirety of Parashat Vayetzei, leyned from the bima of the oldest shul building in the U.S., Touro Synagogue. (I’ll dedicate a post soon to my first experience…
- 5784, Abraham, Bereshit, Chayyei Sarah, Generations, Genesis, Hagar, History, Inheritance, Keturah, Rabbis, Sarah, Secondary Wives, Stories
A Worthwhile Pursuit
Sarah lived…and died, among other wives. Last week’s parsha, Chayei Sarah, includes Keturah’s introduction. There are so many sources I need to explore in depth; Keturah is not someone about whom I have much…
- Abimelech, Akedah, Bereshit, Circumcision, Genesis, Hagar, Isaac, Ishmael, Lot, Love, Mountain, Parsha, Questions, Sarah, Sodom, Vayera
Favoritism & Erasure
Only four parshiyot in this week, we reach Vayera – following a journey of the promised birth of Sarah’s son by blood (since, technically, Ishmael was Sarah’s son through her שפחה, “maidservant,” Hagar)…
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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, Abraham, Blessing, Covenant, Dissertation Diary, Faithfulness, Genesis, Hagar, Ishmael, Journey, Lekh Lekha, Lot, Names, Nation, Pandemic, Parsha, Promises, Sarah, Travel
Into the Unknown!
Seven months into a changed way of life during a pandemic, the unknown is old news. Rather than embarking as a result of our own volition, or even being asked to do so,…
- 5780, Abraham, Ancestors, Bereshit, Beshert, Chayyei Sarah, Death, Dissertation Diary, Genealogy, Generations, Genesis, Hebron, Isaac, Life, Marriage, Matriarchs, Parsha, Patriarchs, Rebekah, Sarah
Burials & Besherts
The last parsha was filled with Sarah’s life, and this one is, well…not. She dies almost immediately – the title, taken from the opening verse, instead offers a glance back. From here, Parashat…
- 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…
