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Jan 17, 2025, 1:30 AM

Shemot: Presence in Absentia

Photo by Diego PH via Unsplash

We are greeted by familiar faces in the opening verses of Shemot – Ya’akov is mentioned, as are his sons; we are told that Yosef has died, and that a new Pharaoh has arisen, one who does not know...

Jan 10, 2025, 5:38 AM

Vayechi: Blessings in Darkness

As Bereshit comes to an end, we are met with another ending: the end of Ya’akov’s life. His last acts, his lasts words, are filled with blessing. Having secured Yosef’s promise that he will be buried with his ancestors...

Jan 5, 2025, 11:47 PM

The Tribe of Dan and the Jews of Ethiopia

The Jewish people preserved their sacred texts. Their sacred texts preserved the Jewish people. The survival and return of the Jews of Ethiopia provide an astonishing example of this dialectic, Let us begin with today’s Torah reading, in which Jacob – now...

Dec 27, 2024, 1:35 AM

Miketz: Prevailing in Dreams and Reality

Yosef’s story is characterised by dreams – his own dreams, his ability to interpret the dreams of others, and his insight in implementing those dreams in reality. In Vayeshev, we hear of his dreams – dreams of his brothers’...

Dec 20, 2024, 2:32 PM

Vayeshev: Stranger(s) in the Field

'Joseph Hunting His Brothers', Artist Unknown (1909)

In a seemingly inconsequential and short diversion from the main narrative of Vayeshev, the Torah briefly introduces us to an unnamed man who helps Yosef find his brothers and the flock at his father’s request. Apprehension filters through the...

Dec 13, 2024, 9:29 PM

Vayishlach: Wrestling with Oneself

'Jacob Wrestling with the Angel' engraving by Gustave Doré (1855)

Vayishlach holds much ambiguity. First, there is the moral ambiguity around the story of Dina and Shechem. Then, there is the case of the figure Ya’akov wrestles with as he makes his journey home. Though the Torah identifies this...

Dec 10, 2024, 8:58 AM

Vayetze: Naming the Future from the Past

Artwork by Bartolome Esteban Murillo (1665-70)

Following last week’s Toldot – genealogies, or generations – Vayetze sees the naming of eleven of the twelve Tribes of Israel, giving names to the generations that will follow. Across two chapters of Tanach, two of Ya’akov’s wives –...

Nov 29, 2024, 3:55 PM

Toldot: Learning from Everyone

Artwork by Michoel Muchnik

This week’s parasha is centred around a turning point in Tanach. Esav and Ya’akov are born, the Torah specifically telling us how Ya’akov enters this world holding onto his brother’s ankle, desperate to be the one who enters the...

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...

Sam Lehman-Wilzig

Nov 22, 2024, 8:19 AM

Judicial Activism? The Bible Is All for It

“Judicial Reform” is on the government’s legislative agenda once again – despite the ongoing war in Gaza and Lebanon. For those who might have forgotten, before Oct. 7, 2023 Israel was convulsed by a domestic controversy: the Right-wing government’s attempts...

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