Lech Lecha

CHAYEI SARAH

CHAYEI SARAH

In truth, our mother Sarah, like many other mothers past and present in Jewish life, has not quite received her due. Rashi, quoting Midrash in describing Sarah’s life, states that all the years of Sarah’s life were “for good.” He must mean “for good” in a spiritual and holy sense, for in her physical worldly life there was little good that she experienced.

The plan of Yaakov

The reason in the state of Israel

Esau is searching

Sarah Lives On

This week’s parsha records for us the passing of our father and mother, of Avraham and Sarah. The Torah notes these sad events without any undue display of emotion or even of great sadness. The Torah’s view of life is that death is inevitable and that death does not end the influence of life – in fact, it does not end life itself.

Greatness

The greater a person is or believes he or she is, the smaller the room for error in one’s life decisions

Future sight

Judaism and the Jewish people always look toward the future even when their current circumstances are bitter and sad. Jacob himself appraised it when he said he would receive his reward tomorrow.

Did He Know?

How much did our father Jacob really know about the events previously described in the Torah readings? There are various streams of thought regarding this matter.

Timing Is Everything

"…what cannot be solved by wisdom, will eventually be solved by the passage of time." It seems that time is never neutral, and that its passage certainly influences decisions and events that take place in human society.

Family Complications

The story of Joseph and his brothers reveals both the strengths and weaknesses of mortal beings and a family structure.

Jacob's Flees

We seem to find our father Jacob always in some sort of flight. He flees from the wrath of his brother Eisav and spends decades in exile in the house of Lavan. Eventually, he is forced to flee from Lavan

Ya'acov's Dreams

We see in this week's reading that it is our father Jacob who is really the master of dreams.

Transmition to Descendants

Is there any reason why Parashat Noah should be called based on the name of person involved, and our Torah reading this week should be called based on the generations and genealogy being described?

Sarah's Life

One could hardly conclude that she had a so-called good life.Yet, we find this to be the pattern in the experiences of all our forefathers and mothers.

Our father Abraham

Our father Abraham experiences the revelation of the Lord when he is sitting alone at the opening of his tent. However, we readily can see that the Torah is describing for us the permanent and regular state of being of our Father figure.

A Conversation with Hasham

We recognize that in many ways our father Abraham is an innovator. we find that our father Abraham is also the first human being recorded as having a normal conversation with his Creator.

Paradise Lost

Originally there was a choice of whether to live in paradise in the Garden of Eden, or to attempt to reach for hoped-for human greatness and accomplishment through knowledge, intellect, and the human spirit.

Vayechi