Scrollers Preview - Parashat Toldot 2013

This week we make the transition from the first patriarch, Avraham, to the man who will be the last patriarch, Ya’akov. Isaac forms a bridge between the two, and we don’t really have a whole “cycle” of stories devoted to him. This week’s parasha shows Isaac rooted in the land, and repeating some of his father’s story, but the focus quickly moves to Ya’akov. And Ya’akov does have a cycle of stories, the longest cycle in the book of Genesis.

With Ya’akov’s life, we enter a very sensual, physical human realm. Like his grandfather, Ya’akov does have visions of God. But Ya’akov more often lives on the often raw and ugly plane  of struggle, deception, confrontation, love, money, and terrible loss. In these opening stories of Ya’akov’s life, Ya’akov gains the birthright and the blessing of the first born, which should belong to his twin brother Esav. We have a scene of suspense and drama as he pretends to be his brother and steals the blessing. This scene is very much on that human plane, and touches all five senses. We watch the blind Yitzchak touch Ya’akov’s deceptively hairy arms, listen to the sound of his voice, smell his clothes, taste the food he prepares.

Some Hebrew words we will watch for this week are “blessing”, “first-born”, and “trickster/deception.”

And as we read, we will keep in mind the question of what it means for us that by the end of this Ya’akov/Yisrael cycle, we all become known as this man’s children. 

Yippee, Yippee Chayai Sarah: Tale of a Western...no, Eastern Girl and her Camel Genesis 23:1 – 25:18 October 26, 2013 - Linda Sherman

What is the role of Matriarchs in the Torah and in Jewish society today?  There are a number of matriarchs (some reluctantly, some happily, some almost but not quite yet) right here in this room today.  What is our role, in studying the torah, in raising our families, in contributing to our communities?  How does this compare to our historical role, and what can we learn from our history that helps us today?

As everyone probably knows, this section begins with the death of Sarah.    Genesis 23:1 states, “And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years;/ these were the years of the life of Sarah”.  In Genesis 23:2, Sarah dies in Kiriatharba, apart from her husband Abraham, who came to mourn for her.  This sets off a very specific chain of events:

1.       Sarah’s death leads Abraham to purchase burial land.

2.       Abraham finds an appropriate wife for Isaac.

3.       All of Abrahams begats, his descendants are described, and the Abraham dies and is buried by two of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael.

At first glance, it seems to be very little about Sarah, and mostly about Abraham and the end of his life.  But it appears to actually be more about securing the covenant and ensuring it’s continuity thought the generations.  For example:

1.       Sarah’s grave is the first permanent legal presence in the land promised to Abraham and to their descendants.

a.      Is this why it is important that Abraham pay full price for it????

2.       Abraham ensures the covenant’s continuity by getting Isaac a wife, Rebecca, from his birthplace.

a.      What would have happened if Isaacs wife came from somewhere else???

3.       Abraham took a 2^nd wife – Keturah – and had many more sons with her, but gave all that he owned to Isaac when he died and sent these other sons “east”.

a.      What was the point in the story of having another wife and more kids if they weren’t going to have any significance to the story or our future???

4.       Isaac and Ishmael (son from Hagar) buried Abraham

a.      Why only these two sons?  Is there any significance to the fact that Isaac settles in the same place (Beer-lahai-roi) that Hagar took Ishmael to when she was wandering in the desert, and where she finally found water?

There is also a certain duality to this section.  Not unlike a piece of music where you have melody and harmony woven together, or point and counterpoint, there are a couple of different threads running through this section.  For example, there is are the very open and blatant actions of Abraham, the patriarch, in setting events in motion versus the more subtle, but equally important development of the matriarch, and the passing of the flame from Sarah to Rebecca.   The women in Abraham’s life appear to be subservient and subject to the whims of the men, but then they are also their own characters and they each play a significant role in ensuring the continuity of the covenant.  What do we know about each of them?

            SARAH           Abrahams partner for life, barren, gives slave to Abraham,

talks to God, LAUGHS at God.

            HAGAR           Slave, given to Abraham and first to give him offspring, fertile,

                                    banished by Sarah, but looked after by God, who shows her the well.

            REBECCA       Abraham’s hand chosen wife for his favorite son, or chosen by God,

                                    heroine, strong, playgirl image from 3,000 years ago, too good to be true, but

                                    falls off camel when sees Isaac for first time.

            KETURAH      Abraham’s last (3^rd) wife, fertile, but not important?  Why is she here?

Questions:

What is the role of women in a matriarchal society, and/or in our society today?  How is it the same/different?

Rebecca speaks only one word:  ELECH – I will go.  Abraham speaks the same word when he leaves his homeland on his journey.  What does this tell us about Rebecca’s character and about her journey?  How important is her role in perpetuating the covenant?

Were Sarah and Rebecca barren so they could only conceive through a miracle?

Isaac and Ishmael bury Abraham.  Both had their issues with him – one was almost sacrificed and one was banished to possibly die in the desert.  How does this bring their journey full circle?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Vayera 2013

This week, the Torah adds new dimensions to our patriarch, Avraham. Up until now he has shown himself as a man of faith, ready to go where God asks him to go. He has given us a hint of his ability to question and challenge God as well. When God promises that he will be the father of a huge nation, Avraham laughs and wonders aloud how this will even be possible, given that he has not children and that Sarah, his wife, is barren.

This week, we see that Avraham is not only a  man of faith, but one of compassion and outrage as well. God shares with Avraham that God is about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Avraham speaks up, outraged that God would destroy an entire city even if there might be some righteous people living there. God seems to be testing Avraham here, to see if justice is important to him. In fact, two of our key words for this parasha are “Justice” and “right.”

This week we also encounter the troubling passage of the “Akedah,” the near-sacrifice of Isaac by his father Avraham. The word “love” appears for the first time in the Torah, as God asks Avraham to take his son, his only one, whom he loves, and sacrifice him. Whereas last week, God tells Avraham to walk away from his past and leave his father’s house, this week God asks Avraham to erase his future by wiping out his own son. The three-fold poetry this week of “take your son, your only one, whom you love” closely parallels last week’s poetry, “Go forth from your land, from your kindred, from your father’s house.”

The opening and closing passages of the parasha ask us to wrestle with some big words and some big questions: justice and love. And in between those passages, we have the story of Lot, one in which justice and love are twisted. Avraham – the ever-ready man of faith, and the man who cries out against in justice – is held up in contrast to his nephew Lot, who offers his daughters up to be raped, and who lingers and procrastinates rather than fleeing the city that God is about to destroy.

What does it really mean to bring a child into the world and to love that child? What does it mean to be one who does what is just and right? Avraham will give us his answers to those questions this week. Come and study!

Scrollers Preview - Lech L'cha 2013

This week we move from the universal stories of Creation and Noah to the particularistic story of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. God calls Avraham, the first father or patriarch to leave his ancestral house and go the land that God will show him. In what will become familiar to us as Avraham’s M.O. – Avraham is unflinching in his response – he goes ahead and goes.

But Avraham is not always so sure of himself or God. Through this parasha and in the ones to follow, we see how he questions and doubts. We catch him, for example, wondering aloud, and even laughing out loud at how God will possibly be able to deliver on the promise to him to be the father of a great nation, when he and his wife are in their nineties, and Sarah is barren.

As we read together, I want us to think about who this man is, whom God singles out to bear the covenantal blessing. Let’s think about what it means to be a patriarch, in our tradition.

You may remember that as we neared the end of Deuteronomy, I was looking to you for suggestions for new approaches to our study. Thanks to some great responses, I’ve decided that this week, and throughout the year, we’ll be looking at Everett Fox’s translation, alongside our Etz Hayyim commentaries, to give us a new perspective on the text. Fox’s translation brings out the rhythm and sounds of the Hebrew language, and his translation tends to be more literal than literary.

Here is an example of Fox’s work, from the opening of our parasha, Genesis 12:1-2:

“YHWH said to Avram:

Go-you-forth

from your land,

from your kindred,

from your father’s house,

to the land that I will let you see.

I will make a great nation of you

and will give-you-blessing

and will make your name great.

Be a blessing!

I also will be pulling out a couple key Hebrew words or roots that appear in the text to give us some focus and to add to your vocabulary. This week’s roots are:

Ra-ah (to see)

Zera (seed)

Eretz (land)

Looking forward to studying with you tomorrow!