So I get to shul for Parshah Vayishlach (Gen 32:4-36:43), all ready to talk about Dinah, which for my money is one of the five most disturbing stories in the Torah, and I discover that the sixth grade kids from…
The eighth week we read Parshah Vayishlach (Gen 32:4-36:43), which contains two major events and one minor but memorable one: the meeting of Esau and Jacob, Jacob’s vision of wrestling with an angel, and the rape of Dinah and subsequent…
This week’s parshah is Vay’etze (Gen 28:10 � 32:3), about Jacob’s sojourn with Laban. Now, strangely for Genesis, this is a story with more or less a happy ending. Laban doesn’t lose much by his deceptions, as he remains wealthy…
So, on Saturday, we talked about Parshah Toldot, Genesis 25:19-28:9. It was a fun discussion, very lively, although now I find there wasn’t much memorable about it. I do remember our ardent feminist saying that if Rebecca had told Isaac…
Parshah Toldot, Genesis 25:19-28:9 covers the birth of the fightin’ twins Jacob and Esau, Isaac’s favoritism, Esau selling his birthright for a mess o’ pottage (mmmmmmmmmmm, pottage), Isaac pulling that old she’s-my-sister trick rather ineffectually (why do I get the…
We discussed Chaye Sarah (23:1-25:18) at synagogue, and it was interesting and fun, even if (or perhaps because) we went in a different direction than I had expected. We wound up talking a good deal about Eliezer, and the way…
The fifth Parshah is Chaye Sarah (23:1-25:18), which is confusing, of course, since Chaye Sarah means the Life of Sarah, and the reading opens with her death. Anyway, the parshah starts with Sarah’s death and the negotiation surrounding her burial,…
It seems that I never wrote about Parshah Vayeera (18:1 � 22:24). I apologize; it really is a Tohu Bohu up here. Anyway, we talked about the expulsion of Ishmael, chapter 21. What I wanted to talk about was how…
Well, and we talked about Parshah Lech L’cha, Genesis 12:1 � 17:27, and it went OK. It was a rambling discussion, even more so than usual, since Rabbi was away (she’s in Boston tonight, and good luck to her, particularly…
OK, week three, Parshah Lech L’cha, Genesis 12:1 � 17:27. First of all, Lech L’cha, translated get thee out, is described by no less a sage than Tevye the Dairyman as the fundamental story of the Jews throughout history. Don’t…