SB Right – 2 Column
Miketz
This week – Miketz, Hannukah and a Simcha Bat – we are so blessed with joy this week. As we light our candles this week I want to honour R. Lawrence Hoffman with a nod to an article I read last week. He wrote about the holiness of lighting Hannukah candles. I wanted to title […]
Vayeshev
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 […]
Vayishlach
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 […]
Toldot
How can we best help each other in these challenging economic times? Last week we read about Avraham negotiating the purchase of a burial cave so he could honour Sarah with an eternal burial site. But we also read about the small acts of kindness that led Eliezer to know that Rivka would be the […]
Chaye Sarah
There is such a wonderful walking rhythm to our Torah readings, especially perhaps in the Book of Bereshit, Genesis. It can feel like we are actually moving our feet, alongside Avraham and Sarah. These stories, even with all their fractiousness intact, help us walk through our own lives. This week, in Chaye Sarah, we read about the death […]
Vayera
This week Vayera opens with Avraham sitting in his tent. In the opening words of this parashah, God appeared to Avraham, but then in the next verse we read that Avraham lifted his eyes and perceived three men were standing over him. And then he ran towards them. I find this sequence confusing – who […]
Lech Lecha
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 […]
Vayigash
December 27, 2022 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: vayigash •
This week we read Vayigash… and he approached. Yehudah is approaching Yosef, his long-lost brother, who is now unrecognizable, as he stands in the garments of governor of Egypt. The clothes can indeed make, and disguise, both the “man” and his intentions. Over the course of Vayigash we read about the negotiations of the brothers and […]