Rabbi Lynn Greenhough

The lights and music of Hannukah approach – here is the link we played at our Kabbalat Shabbat service last Friday evening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7MXDlPg_LI

This week we are in Vayeshev – Jacob settled, dwelled, in the land of his ancestors.  In the Biblical canon, the word לָשֶׁבֶת (lah-SHEH-vet) means primarily to settle down, though it can also mean, very literally, to sit down. Another word meaning to settle down permanently is לְהִשְׁתַּקֵּעַ(leh-heesh-tah-KEH-ah), of the root שׁ.ק.ע (sh.k.a) meaning sinking or setting. This word has the connotation of putting down roots somewhere. Sinking into the ground.
For example:הָעוֹלִים הַחֳדָשִׁים בָּאוּ עִם הַכַּוָּנָה לְהִשְׁתַּקֵּעַ.More

Mazal tov to Doug Marshall and Pat Dunphy on the birth of their grandson, Ari James – a very healthy 8.5 pounds.

This week, Vayishlach, Yaakov, now a patriarch with a large family, leaves his uncle Lavan– but anticipating a difficult reunion with his brother Esau, he must first cross the River Yabbock. In the dark of night, after all his planning, and strategizing to protect his family, Yaakov wrestles with a stranger – an angel, a man? – and at the end of this struggle he is given a new name, a name we carry forward to this day. Israel. Wrestle with God.  

Our names in our tradition carry us forward with the names of our ancestors and the hope and purpose of our futures as we each wrestle ourselves into circumstances both blessed and challenging. May Ari, this little lion of God, bring his family the dignity, the fortitude and kindness of his grandparents and his parents.

Love,
Rabbi Lynn

In Lech Lecha we meet Avram and Sarai, these two individuals who follow God’s command to leave their homeland and go to the land they (hope) they will know. Eventually their names will be change to Avraham and Sarah – each of them taking on a letter from one of the names we hold for the Divine Presence.

Lech Lecha follows immediately on the story of the tower of Babel where the peoples disobey God’s intentions and attempt to build towers into the heavens. In their hubris, wanting to unify and coalesce, rather than disperse through all lands speaking differing languages, they disobey God.More