SR Hewitt, at The Blogs

Apply for a Blog

Feb 14, 2020, 6:53 AM

National Purpose

What is your purpose in life? We all have our own answers to this question, both broad answers - such as being an aved Hashem (a servant of God) - and more focused answers - such as, perhaps, writing...

Jan 23, 2020, 4:59 PM

About Your Gods…A Lesson on Consideration

Is the Jewish faith tolerant of other religions? It sounds like a question in a Google search box, but it has surprising relevance to this week's parsha, parshas Va’era. Shemos 7 begins the narrative of the Ten Plagues, the...

Jan 9, 2020, 5:49 PM

The Reason for Reassurance (Vayechi)

"And God will surely consider you again and bring you up from this land unto the land which He swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Yaakov” (Bereishis 20:24). Yoseph says this to his brothers from his death bed,...

Jan 3, 2020, 5:29 AM

Why ‘the Bagel’ is Important to Klal Yisrael

To write a Dvar Torah this week and not talk about anti-Semitism is very difficult, but really the fact is that this week's parsha is primarily about healing, reunion, and moving into the future. In times such as these,...

Dec 26, 2019, 9:00 PM

Eight Moments in Miketz

It most often happens that parshas Miketz overlaps with Shabbas Chanukah, and while there are reasons for this that have nothing to do with Chanukah, it is interesting to look for a common theme. Chanukah is the holiday of...

Dec 20, 2019, 7:54 AM

A Man Who Pointed The Way

Once upon a time in my life there was a man, really a boy -- although at the time he seemed far older than me, who mentioned in passing that being Jewish was something that he thought about in...

Dec 12, 2019, 9:14 AM

Tell Me Who You Are

There are many famous questions posed by scholars of all generations about the midnight wrestling match of Yaakov and the malach. It is amazing that even with the surprising amount of details provided, there is a myriad more details...

Dec 5, 2019, 7:37 AM

Now That’s a Rock!

Remember that old saying, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”? Perhaps if your goal is gashmius (materialism) that is true, but in this week’s parsha, the Torah presents the first significant gift of a rock from a guy to...

Nov 27, 2019, 11:58 PM

The History Lesson That Never Ends

Although it is a basic tenant of traditional Judaism that there are no words wasted in the Torah, many of us can recognize certain passages that we glance over because they seem simple or too familiar. One such is...

Nov 21, 2019, 10:51 AM

Will She Take the Journey

You can’t force faith. It’s a fact. One can teach about beliefs and ideals. One can demonstrate living a life according to a strict moral code. But one cannot force someone else to believe in anything. This was something...

Load more

About Me

Sarah Rochel Hewitt, formerly the Publications Coordinator for NJOP, and author for 10 years of its popular daily email/blog (JewishTreats.org), is a freelance writer in Montreal. Raised in Pennsylvania, Sarah Rochel is a graduate of the University of Maryland @ College Park (English and Jewish Studies) with a master's degree in education from Brooklyn College. She is also an alumnae of Midreshet Rachel V'Chaya in Jerusalem and the mother of five. Sarah Rochel Hewitt began composing Personal Parsha Prose posts shortly after leaving NJOP in July 2018. Her hope is to inspire others to invest themselves in discovering the incredible layers of meaning that can be found in the Torah.

Contact Me