PARSHA POSTS: CHAYEI SARAH

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Nov 29, 2024, 5:34 PM

J’Accuse Global Jewry is outraged. Last week’s shocking announcement by the International Criminal Court, which issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Israeli Defense Minister, Yoav Galant, is a new low we never imagined the nations of...

Dana Greitzer Gotlieb

Nov 28, 2024, 10:15 AM

What’s Her Story? Sarah’s Life

Photo taken by Dana Greitzer Gotlieb. Trona, CA, 2023.

Our Torah portion, Chayei Sarah—חַיֵּי שָׂרָה—The Life of Sarah, begins with an unexpected twist: not with her life, but with an announcement of her death: וַיִּהְיוּ֙ חַיֵּ֣י שָׂרָ֔ה מֵאָ֥ה שָׁנָ֛ה וְעֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְשֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֑ים שְׁנֵ֖י חַיֵּ֥י שָׂרָֽה׃ |וַתָּ֣מת שָׂרָ֗ה… וַיָּבֹא֙...

Nov 25, 2024, 7:20 PM

Isaac’s (Shabbat?) Afternoon- Hayyei Sarah 5785

One of my most cherished activities on Shabbat (or any day) is that of menucha- literally, “rest”. In many ways, it’s the essence of what Shabbat is supposed to be- a refreshing break from our mundane, workaday routines. On...

Nov 22, 2024, 11:58 PM

When a famous person passes away, newspapers try to capture their life and accomplishments in an obituary. The greater the person’s achievements, the longer and more detailed the obit. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik noted that for Sarah, the matriarch...

William Hamilton

Nov 22, 2024, 11:50 PM

Confronting Self-Doubt Pushes Me Forward

“We reach the edge of an embankment,” 35-year-old Or tells of her perilous plight as an IDF Commander that terrifying October 7 morning. “I peer my head up and see a sight I will never forget as long as...

Nov 22, 2024, 2:34 PM

Chayei Sarah: Loving Kindness

'The Meeting of Abraham's Servant with Rebekah at the Well' by W. Hilton, R.A. (1864)

As Eliezer – though he is not named directly in Tanach, merely referred to as a servant – goes to find Yitzchak a wife from among the kindred of Avraham, his intuition tells him that he must devise a...

Nov 22, 2024, 2:27 PM

Parshat Chayei Sarah 5785

In this week Parsha, Parshat Chayei Sarah. Avraham commands Eliezer his servant to find a wife for Yitzchak and he tells him not to take a wife for him from among the women of Canaan. But rather go back...

Nov 22, 2024, 2:13 PM

Kindness revolution

'Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well,' by Ferdinand Bol (1616 – 1680).

Abraham pushes God to wield justice; Rebecca welcomes a stranger with extra care; and both teach the world of the value of both traits (Chayei Sarah)

Nov 22, 2024, 10:00 AM

Every day (even a ‘bad’ day) is a good day

Referring to Abraham’s age, it is written in parshas Chayei Sarah, “v’Avraham zakein, ba bayamim” (Bereishis 24:1). The common translation is “And Abraham was old, advanced in days,” but the Hebrew wording “ba bayamim” literally means that “he came with...

Nov 22, 2024, 8:11 AM

The Next Chapter (Chayei Sarah, Covenant & Conversation)

One of the most striking features about Judaism in comparison with, say, Christianity or Islam, is that it is impossible to answer the question: Who is the central character of the drama of faith? In both of the other...

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