Vayeshev
Vayeshev, Yosef’s brothers, and Gaza
"More and more I begin to believe that we are as defined by those calls for help we do not answer than as by those calls that we do."
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Vayeshev: No to Nekamah
This Chanukah, let’s choose to follow the examples of Joseph and Tamar, and say no to nekamah. When the time comes to say the “Al Hanissim” prayer, let’s skip the vengeful words “nakamta et nikmatam.”
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A Hero of Biblical Proportions?
When someone like Kenneth Smith is praying even as he is lying on a bed of death, how can we pass by once we are made aware, awakened to God's presence there?
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The Symbolism of Planting During a Shmita Year
While we are deeply connected to the land of Israel, with spiritual roots that seek to implant themselves in its rich soil, connection is not predetermination.
What we build on top of the land, as a civilization with our own agency, matters just as much. Whom we build it with matters.
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Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied
A D’var Torah for Parshat Vayeshev by Rabbi Jeremy Kridel “And I — where am I to go!?” (Gen. 37:30, trans. Everett Fox) Thus Reuben, the eldest of Jacob’s sons, cries out after Joseph is taken into slavery in Parshat Vayeshev, sold during Reuben’s absence. A closer look at Reuben’s story reminds us: Justice delayed...
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Walking in Tamar’s Shoes
Cindy Greenberg examines the troubling story of Tamar in this d'var torah on Parshat Vayeshev.
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Joseph in the Era of #MeToo (Parshat Vayeshev)
Commentary on Parshat Vayeshev (Genesis 37:1 – 40:23) In Andrew Lloyd Weber’s telling of the Joseph tale from Genesis, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, one of the biggest laugh lines comes when Joseph, sexually pursued by the wife of his master Potiphar, yells out “I don’t believe in free love!” After this, in both...
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Holy Human Rights Chutzpah
This Shabbat, Dec. 8-9, is not just the weekend before Chanukah; it’s also that of International Human Rights Day. We honor this global holiday, Jewishly, when we reread our sacred stories through a human rights lens. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a document of great...
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You, Too, Can Be An Angel
Y’tziyat Mitzraim, the Exodus from Egypt, stands as one of the defining stories of the Jewish people. It defines our identity, provides a moral mission and stands as the paradigm for the ultimate redemption. Scripture reminds us no less than thirty-two times of our status as slaves and strangers in Egypt. We know the affliction...
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First They Came
Rabbi Michael Adam Latz's response to Pastor Martin Niemoller (z"l)'s "First they came" poem: "First they came for the African Americans and I spoke up—
Because I am my sisters’ and my brothers’ keeper..."
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