By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant This week’s parsha presents an ancestral tale that 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 […]
Posts with the Genesis tag
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 […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYEIRA (GENESIS 18:1-22:4)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant Towards the end of last week’s parsha, we read of the supernatural birth of Isaac to Sarah and Abraham. At the time, Abraham was one hundred years old; and Sarah was in her nineties, well beyond child-bearing age. God made a covenant with Isaac, circumcising him eight days […]
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 of the Book of Genesis, Bereishit, is probably the most familiar of any other portions of the Torah. The wondrous origination of the […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYECHI (GENESIS 44:28-50:26)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant In last week’s Torah parsha, Vayigash, Joseph became overwhelmed with emotion when he learned that his father, Jacob, was still alive. He revealed his identity to his eleven brothers and urged them to bring his father and all of their wives and children to Egypt. The brothers were […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYIGASH (GENESIS 44:18-47:27)
by Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant Last week’s parsha, Mikietz, ended with a somewhat disturbing enigma. Jacob’s ten sons had returned to Egypt to procure additional food as the famine continued. Based on the demand of the ‘Viceroy of Egypt’ (now, their brother Joseph, whom they did not recognize), they were also to bring […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: MIKEITZ (GENESIS 41:1-44:7)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant Twelve years pass, with Joseph still languishing in an Egyptian jail. Suddenly, he finds himself not only free, but also the ‘Viceroy’ of Egypt. The swiftness with which this change occurred was nothing short of a miracle. One night, the Pharaoh of Egypt had two highly disquieting and […]
A ‘Bissel’ of Torah: VAYEISHEV (GENESIS 37:1-40:23)
By Joy Scott, Am Haskalah Congregant For more than two decades, Jacob lived with the guilt and knowledge of his own iniquity, against both his brother, Esau, and his beloved father, Isaac. In last week’s Torah parsha, Vayishlach, we read how the burden of these emotions quickly evaporated when Jacob went to Canaan and […]