By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Parsha presents an ancestral tale, which haunts us with its theme of cunning and deception. As the narrative proceeds, we realize that each of the characters, presented in TOLDOT, is caught in a web of relationships; a web of words; true and false, from which they cannot […]
Posts in the A ‘Bissel’ of Torah category:
A weekly dvar Torah from our wonderful Joy Scott.
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: CHAYEI SARAH (GENESIS 23:1-24:67)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant The translation of this week’s Torah Parsha (CHAYEI SARAH) is ‘The Life of Sarah’. Ironically, only the first two lines of the Parsha pertain to the death of Sarah; and, no other aspect of her life is even mentioned again. Rashi wrote that the death of Sarah is juxtaposed […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYIEIRA (GENESIS 18:1-22:4)
Towards the end of last week’s Parsha (LECH LECHA), we read of the supernatural birth of Isaac to Sarah and Abraham. At the time, Abraham was 100 years old; and Sarah was in her nineties, well beyond child-bearing age. God made a covenant with Isaac, circumcising him eight days after his birth. This week’s Parsha […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: LECH LECHA (GENESIS 12:1-17:27)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah Parsha (LECH LECHA) begins with God’s words to Abram: “Go forth from your birthplace to the land which I will show you; and, I will make you into a great nation, bless you, and aggrandize your name” (1). The writers of the Midrash had many obvious […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: NOACH (GENESIS 6:9-11:32)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah Parsha begins: “These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man for this generation; Noah walked with God” (1). Numerous commentaries have emerged, pertaining to the implication that ‘Noah was a righteous man’. In a rare ‘Torah Moment’, Torah scholars are actually in agreement […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: BEREISHIT (GENESIS 1:1-6:8)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant “In the beginning of God’s creation of the heavens and earth, God said: “Let there be light; and, there was light” (1). The first Torah Parsha (BEREISHIT) of the Book of Genesis is probably the most familiar of any other portions of the Torah. The wondrous origination of the […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: V’ZOTHABRACHA (DEUTERONOMY 33:1-34:12)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah Parsha (V’ZOTHABRACHA) is the final reading in the last of the five Books of the Torah. The Parsha begins with Moses blessing each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Echoing Jacobs’s blessings to his twelve sons, five generations earlier, Moses assigns and empowers each tribe with […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: HAAZINU (DEUTERONOMY 32:1- 32:5)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant Every year, either in close proximity, or during the ‘Ten Days of Repentance’, we read the penultimate Torah Parsha (HAAZINU). It is no coincidence that when we are experiencing a heightened sense of spirituality, we are enjoined to hear Moses’ final words to The Children of Israel. For a […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYELECH (DEUTERONOMY 31:1-31:30)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s Torah Parsha (VAYELECH) is both heartrending, as well as being inspirational. It begins with Moses speaking the following words to the Children of Israel: “Today, I am one hundred and twenty years old; and, the Lord has told me that I will not cross the Jordan with […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: NITZAVIM (DEUTERONOMY 29:9-30:20)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant After hearing the list of the 98 terrifying curses, at the end of last week’s Torah Parsha (KI TAVO), the people were devastated, and questioned whether they could possibly withstand such frightful punishments. Moses responded with the opening statement of Parsha (NITZAVIM): “You are all still standing this day […]