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PARSHA POSTS: VAYERA

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Jan 15, 2026, 11:31 PM

The Power of Gratitude and Thankful Souls

Last night, I participated in a Thanksgiving dinner, which offered me a precious opportunity to reflect on one of the most profound spiritual practices in Judaism — expressing gratitude to God. In our tradition, gratitude is far more than...

Jan 14, 2026, 8:22 PM

The Doorpost of Redemption

Not in the streets or the palaces of power, but at the threshold between inside and out—between what we cling to and what we are willing to leave behind. Parashat Va’era opens with the first seven of the ten...

Nov 14, 2025, 6:01 PM

Life After the End

Parashah Chayei Sarah – Life After the End Connection with the previous parashah – Vayera Vayera ends with the Akedah: Avraham and Yitzchak return from Mount Moriah. But Sarah is not in the scene. She does not go up, she does not...

Bonnie K. Goodman

Nov 14, 2025, 5:17 PM

Chayei Sarah: Three Years Without My Mother

Our family story, captured in moments—my mother, my father, and the life we built together. (Source: Bonnie K. Goodman)

The Journey I Never Wanted, but the One I Walk With Her By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS Three years ago, my world split in two. In one moment, I lost my mother — my best friend, my anchor, my confidante, the person who...

Nov 13, 2025, 1:27 PM

Are We Abraham’s Children?

What does a person who has everything want? This week’s parashah is transitional. Its two major stories involve the passing of the mantle from one generation to another. Sarah dies, and Avraham buys land for her burial. As he ages,...

Mordechai Silverstein

Nov 11, 2025, 12:39 PM

No One Is Spared

Last week’s parashah, Vayera, ended with the story of the Akedah, the binding of Yitzḥak (Isaac), a divine command that could have ended with Yitzḥak’s tragic death at his father’s hands, a fate ultimately averted by divine intervention. This...

Shamai Leibowitz

Nov 9, 2025, 9:37 PM

The Voice That Stopped the Knife

Hearing the Torah’s call to conscience amid the bloodshed in Gaza and the West Bank, and the deafening propaganda of our time. This week's Torah reading, Vayeira, compels us to confront two profoundly disturbing narratives that place the lives of...

Nov 9, 2025, 12:01 PM

A Hasidic Thread across Generations: From the Rebbe of Ruzhin to Rabbi Zalman Liberov in Parashat Vayera

Vayera: The Wealth of Light This week, as we read the Torah portion Vayera, something happened to me that I can only describe as hashgacha pratit — Divine Providence. I came to the evening minyan at the synagogue on Avenue M...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Nov 8, 2025, 11:08 PM

Pushing and Insisting My Way – docheh, dochef, hadof, and dofek

When the angels came to visit Lot in Sodom before destroying the city, they posed as human wayfarers who said to Lot that they were prepared to sleep in the street. However, Lot pressed them and insisted that they...

Nov 7, 2025, 7:40 PM

Parshah through the Mediator’s Lens: Vayera

Vayera, created by author via ChatGPT.

The Torah portion Vayera (Genesis 18–22) is filled with dramatic episodes including divine visits, destruction, birth, and near-sacrifice. But beneath the miracles and moral tests lies a reflective story about negotiation and advocacy: Abraham’s dialogue with G-d over the...

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