TORAH DREAMS This week, instead of telling you about someone who had dreams in the Torah, I am going to tell you about someone who had dreamed about a Sefer Torah! In the video version of this message, I am standing in front our open ark right by our largest Sefer Torah. It towers over...
HEAVY LIFTING One of the most striking visual images in the Bible is found in the second portion of this week’s parasha. Jacob arrives at Charan. He sees shepherds gathered at a well with a large boulder covering its opening. He notices that they won’t be able to remove the rock themselves, until more shepherds...
DON’T BE A PHILISTINE To call someone a philistine today is to label them as indifferent to culture and the arts. [The usage seems to have originated from a conflict between the cultured university students and the townspeople in 17th century Jenna, Germany.] The original Philistines are referred to in this week’s parasha. We encounter...
LIVING THE GOOD LIFE The first verse of our parasha seems unnecessarily repetitive in its use of the word,‘years’: “And Sarah’s lifetime was one hundred years, twenty years and seven years, the years of Sarah’s lifetime.”(Bereishit 23:1) Our major commentator, Rashi (d. 1105) makes an observation that, at first glance, strains credulity. He says: The...
JONATHAN SACKS’ LEGACY This coming week, on 20th Marcheshvan, is the first yahrzeit of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z”l. At shul we are holding an evening of learning, music, and words of inspiration in his memory this Wednesday, 27th October. Please join us in this tribute to him. He passed away on the Shabbat of...
ABRAHAM AND SARAH’S DISCIPLES When Abram and Sarai came to the land of Canaan, they didn’t come by themselves. They arrived with Lot, Abram’s nephew. They arrived with all their possessions. Then the verse adds: “and with the souls they had made in Charan.” (Bereishit 12:25.) Rashi (in his second explanation) observes that the straightforward...
