PARSHA POSTS: VAYECHI

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David Seidenberg

Nov 21, 2024, 10:50 AM

Genesis v. genocide: Are you a friend of Abraham or a Joshua Jew?

Destruction of the mosque at Um. al-Hiran, detail (Oren Ziv)

By the time Sarah dies, God has promised to give Abraham all the land that he can see and walk on, not once but four times. And yet, when he goes to bury Sarah, Abraham describes himself as having...

Jan 4, 2024, 6:11 PM

You are Never Displaced; You are Dispatched

Your Tormentor is your Mentor As a rabbi, I spend a lot of my time counseling people on their relationships. A highly popular emerging form of therapy is called "Imago Therapy," in which the problems of the relationship are reframed...

Michael S. Diamond

Jan 4, 2024, 2:17 PM

Creation’s End

The Saddle Point. Photo by Author.

The predator and carrion-eater have returned to the suburbs. The fox, the coyote, the vulture and the hawk now share our land and skies in numbers both thrilling and disturbing. Last week I saw them as I walked home...

Dec 31, 2023, 11:56 AM

Depression is the emissary of the evil inclination

The infinite God has presented all of the Torah to the world as an eternal lesson of Godly wisdom for all people at all times. There are many powerful life lessons to be gleaned from the weekly portion of...

Dec 30, 2023, 6:14 PM

The Power of Chessed

In Parshat Vayechi, we find Yakov Avinu making a request of Yosef. He asks him to do with him חסד ואמת, kindness and truth, by promising to bury him in Eretz Yisrael. It is from here that we learn, that...

Dec 29, 2023, 4:29 PM

Jews for Hitler – Parshat Vayechi

Headline about Max Neumann in Buffalo Jewish Review, August 31, 1934

Theodore Herzl, as everyone knows, was an Austrian lawyer who is considered the father of modern political Zionism. It is also well known that before he decided to become an advocate for a return to Zion, he felt that...

Ilana Sober Elzufon

Dec 29, 2023, 4:12 PM

Yaakov’s 12 sons gather around him, eager to hear his final message. The aged patriarch speaks to each brother directly, mostly with words of blessing. But he addresses one pair of brothers together, harshly: Shimon and Levi are brothers, weapons...

William Hamilton

Dec 29, 2023, 4:07 PM

Listening for the feelings of others is always in season

Baggage claim carousels used to urge passengers to identify their suitcases with care. Many bags look alike, they reminded us. Lately I’m sensing, almost none of them do. Each one of us comes with unique baggage, containing lived-experiences, personal qualities,...

Dec 29, 2023, 4:05 PM

Is Israel Schizophrenic?

Before the outbreak of the war on October 7, we, in Israel, were at each other's throats. The proposed judicial reform led to weekly protests throughout the country for over eight months. The protesters feared that the judicial reform...

Dec 29, 2023, 3:30 PM

A Time for War and a Time for Peace

The Midrash relates that on Jacob’s death in this week’s parsha, Vayechi, his sons carried his body to Hebron to bury it in the cave where his grandparents, Abraham and Sarah, his parents, Isaac and Rebecca, and his wife...

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