VAYIKRA (LEVITICUS 1:1 - 5:26)
“Whom shall I send?” God called.
Every thread of Isaiah's being responded, “Here I am. Send me!”
VAYACHEL-PEKUDEI (EXODUS 35:1−40:38)
My perception of Vayachel-Pekudei is forever shaped by my memories of a young woman developing her voice and claiming her own style of leadership, of the sweet, plump cheeks of a baby who needed to come in his own time – even though some of us worried that it was maybe a little early, of his mother’s hand on the top of his big brother’s head, and of his father’s intense and loving eyes gazing down at him.
With his parents’ permission, I share with you the words I shared with him.
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PURIM
This year, informed by Nowruz and in observance of Purim, let’s think about how we might reach out diplomatically with the intention to increase love and friendship between ourselves and others.
TETZAVEH (EXODUS 27:20−30:10)
It feels so foreign, the story of needing special cloth and fur, of gold and silver, crimson and purple and blue linen and embroidery, special stones, layers of covering to connect with God. The ornamental clothing of the Priest is described in this parsha in dramatic and exacting detail.
TERUMAH (EXODUS 21:1−24:18)
Check it out. It’s not the miracles. It’s not what God does for us that transforms us. It is what we do together with God. Sometimes, it’s even what we think we have done for ourselves, and then realize we didn’t actually do it alone.
MISHPATIM EXODUS 21:1−24:18
I read this parsha every year for close to fifteen years before I ever saw the angel in it, but there he is. God has promised since Abraham that God would be with us. Why now an angel? Who is this angel? What is an angel?
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YITRO EXODUS 18:1 - 20:23
Yitro brought Moses’s wife and sons, Gershom and Eliezar, to the base of the mountain where the people of Israel were encamped. (Exodus 18:6) In a scene as loving and touching and familial as any between Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, when they arrived, Moses went out to greet his father-in-law, bowed low, and kissed him.
BESHALACH EXODUS 13:17 - 17:16
We read it now knowing how the story is going to end. We know they will get out, we know they will be free. We know they are going to dance. We know. We must remember that they did not know. And they packed their timbrels anyway.
BO EXODUS 10:1 - 13:16
The “no” of the Jewish people was “No, we don’t want to be slaves.”
The “no” of Pharaoh was “No, I will not listen to you, I will not hear you.”
From the story in this week’s Torah portion, we can learn that like Moses and Aaron and the Jewish people in Egypt, we can keep saying “No” in all the ways we need to until we are heard. And we can remember not to be like Pharaoh. We can hear someone else’s “No”.
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SHMOT EXODUS 1:1 - 6:1
Holy. Buckets. This. Parsha.
It’s like reading the news.
It would be easy, I think, to plunge into Shmot with Pharaoh and forget about Joseph and his family.
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VAYIGASH GENESIS 44:18 - 47:27
In the United States, every 2 seconds, someone needs blood. But mine is a cancer story. What does cancer have to do with blood? What does blood have to do with Joseph? And why is that picture of little me with a goat?
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MIKEITZ GENESIS 41:1 - 44:17
It wasn’t only a war of independence. The Maccabean revolt against the Greeks rose from an atmosphere of spiritual and cultural conflict. That they needed to oppose Antiochus who established Zeus in the Temple was clear, but to what degree could Jews adopt Greek culture and still be Jewish?
Did we really reject it all?
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VAYESHEV GENESIS 37:1 - 40:23
I believe our bodies are the most external expression of our souls. When we move our bodies in the world, I believe we are moving the most external expression of our souls in the world. When we touch someone else's body, I believe we are touching the most external expression of their soul with the most external expression of our own soul.
VAYISHLACH GENESIS 32:4 - 36:43
Dinah is the last child of Leah. Dinah is Leah’s daughter – a girl. And Leah named her.
Midrash Tanhuma Vayaheil teaches, “There are three names by which a person is called: one which their parents call them, one which people call them, and one which they earn for themselves. The last is the best one of all.”
BY AMY JOSEFA ARIEL
CHAYEI SARAH GENESIS 23:1-25:18
What if we started with what we don’t know?
What if we ended with curiosity?
BY AMY JOSEFA ARIEL
VAYERA GENESIS 18:1–22:24
Why did Idit look back? Did she miss her neighbors, or did she want to watch them burn? Was she aching for her two daughters who refused to leave, or was she upset about her material losses? Our Torah does not answer these questions. All we know is that she looked back.
BY AMY JOSEFA ARIEL
LECH LECHA GENESIS 12:1 – 17-27
Abraham is a good person. Abraham did not just stand there and let Pharaoh’s officials turn Sarah into a sex slave. And he most certainly did not just accept gifts from Pharaoh.
Except . . . he did.
NOAH (GENESIS 6:9 – 11:32 )
It is this parsha in which I find my heart, and it is also this parsha that breaks it.