CREATING HOLINESS One lesser known facet of Rabbi Lord Sacks z”l was his extensive knowledge of music, both classical and modern. We were once discussing that the word, sulam in Jacob’s dream, is translated more accurately as a stairway than a ladder. “Oh, you mean like Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven!” When Jacob wakes up, after dreaming of the stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending, he exclaims: “How awesome is this place. This is none other than the House of G-d and this is the Gateway to Heaven.” [Bereishit 28:17] Jacob realized that the place he had chosen...

LETTING THEM KNOW THAT WE LOVE THEM The sidra begins by telling us that Isaac and Rebecca were childless and that they prayed for a child. “And Isaac prayed to Hashem opposite his wife, for she was barren” (Bereishit 25:21). Rashi (d. 1105), explains that Isaac and Rebecca stood in opposite corners of the room whilst they prayed. The Siftei Chachamim adds that it is not appropriate to pray directly facing another person. The question remains, though, why are we told that Isaac prayed in his wife’s presence? Rabbi Zvi Shiloni suggests that an explanation is apparent if we consider...

SWEETS FROM THE CHIEF RABBI Last Sunday morning, I had the honour to represent Chief Rabbi Mirvis at the Cenotaph. Before we filed out to stand behind the balustrade, the representatives of the leading faiths in this country were all standing in a socially-distanced group in the quadrangle of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office building. One after another, they came up to me to express their shock and loss at the passing of Rabbi Lord Sacks and the impact he had made on their lives. It was, in effect, a paraphrase of the verse in this week’s parsha (cited...

ABRAHAM’S PATH TO G-D Jewish history begins with G-d’s call to Abraham at the beginning of this week’s sidra, telling him to leave his land, his birthplace, and go to the land which G-d will show him. The Torah tells us that Abraham is seventy-five years old when this happens. What has taken place in Abraham’s life previously? The Torah is silent here but Jewish tradition fills in the gaps. Abraham is regarded as the first person who came to G-d as a result of his own intellectual questioning. Maimonides (Laws of Idolatry 1:3) provides the following narrative regarding Abraham’s...