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Lessons from Lot鈥檚 Daughters

Oct 22, 2021 By Abby Eisenberg | Commentary | Vayera

Parashat Vayera is the fourth Torah portion after Simhat Torah, the celebration of our annual Torah reading cycle and the culmination of the fall holidays. As we begin the new year, we also begin anew our exploration of ancestral family dynamics. Arguably one of the most famous parent-child scenes in all of literature can be found in Vayera: that of Abraham bringing Isaac to offer him as sacrifice. The parashah also contains another version of child sacrifice when Lot, Abraham鈥檚 nephew, subjects his unnamed daughters to assault and danger. From the tragedy of Jephthah鈥檚 daughter to the boldness of the daughters of Zelofehad, relationships between fathers and daughters in Tanakh are both deeply troubling and inspiring. The story of Lot and his daughters is certainly the former, and, perhaps surprisingly, potentially the latter.

Was Avram a Second Language Learner?

Oct 15, 2021 By Avi Garelick | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

At the conclusion of Chapter 11 of Sefer Bereishit, the peoples of the world are divided by Divine command into distinct groups with mutually incomprehensible languages. This tale of the Tower of Babel accounts for the fundamental question of why human beings can be so different from each other while coming from the same source. It also sets the stage for what follows: a freshly divided world, with the inability to communicate as a driving force of division.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Oct 8, 2021 By Kendell Pinkney | Commentary | Noah

When I received the results, I can鈥檛 say I was all that surprised:

67% Sub-Saharan African, 30% Northwest European, 2% Indigenous American, 1% unaccounted for.

I already knew that my ethnic heritage was decently mixed up. I had spent enough years peppering my grandmothers with the kinds of questions only a child feels comfortable pursuing: 鈥淲here was your mother from? Where was your father from? Belize?! Which city? Dangriga? Sounds weird. Never heard of it. Wait, grandma, your grandmother was a white woman from Louisiana?!鈥�

Is the World a Mirror?

Oct 1, 2021 By Dianne Cohler-Esses | Commentary | Bereishit

The God of the Torah is driven by loneliness, by a desire to be in relationship with humanity and to God鈥檚 chosen people, Israel. As Abraham Joshua Heschel says (quoted by Michael Lerner in his book Jewish Renewal), 鈥淕od鈥檚 dream is not to be alone, but to have humankind as a partner in the drama of continuous creation鈥� (vi). Out of a great loneliness God emerges from royal solitude to create a world and within it humanity as a partner for God.

What Exactly Is a Sukkah?

Sep 24, 2021 By David Zev Moster | Commentary | Sukkot

Have you ever asked yourself what defines a sukkah? Not how to build one or what makes it kosher, but why have one in the first place? What is its purpose? Was the sukkah part of daily life in ancient Israel? Did it have a role outside the holiday that bears its name?

In God鈥檚 Image

Sep 17, 2021 By Alisa Braun | Commentary | Ha'azinu | Sukkot

What does it mean to be created in God鈥檚 image? Or to act in a God-like way? As I reread Parashat Ha鈥檃zinu, I was struck by the ways Moses鈥檚 song poetically develops God鈥檚 care for the Israelites, and I discovered in the vivid and diverse metaphors the beginnings of an answer. From the opening lines, where God鈥檚 words are likened to varieties of rain, sustaining and giving life to all, to God as an eagle 鈥渨ho rouses his nestlings鈥� and 鈥渂ears them along his pinions鈥� (Deut. 32:11), this God builds up, guides, teaches, and protects. God provides for the Israelites鈥� physical needs with gifts of abundance, nurturing the people with 鈥渉oney from the crag鈥� as a mother nurses her child (Deut. 32:13). The Israelites鈥� lack of gratitude inflames God鈥檚 anger, but God bestows mercy and forgiveness, despite there being no mention of teshuva (repentance). God gives.

Korah Had Options and So Do We

Jun 11, 2021 By Stephanie Ruskay | Commentary | Korah

Korah is most famous for challenging Moses鈥檚 authority, framing rebellion in the guise of populism, and calling on Moses to share power and religious titles. The Rabbis understand Korah鈥檚 call for shared leadership and responsibility as a selfish desire to see himself awarded the role of the kohen gadol. He did not actually want 鈥減eople鈥� to have power; rather, he personally wanted authority and prestige and framed rebellion as something he was doing for the greater good.

Heroes and Humans

Jun 18, 2021 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Hukkat

One of the things I love most about the Bible is that it presents humans, not heroes. Even the Bible鈥檚 greatest figures have virtues and vices.