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Chaye Sarah
October 28, 2018 by Lynn Greenhough • D'var Torah • Tags: chaye sara • 0 Comments
The life of Sarah begins with her death. And from death, new life begins. Eliezer – Abraham’s servant – was sent to find a wife for a now ageing Yitz. Yitz is alone. He is alone like the silence around him. He is bereft of a father he can trust, and with her death, he […]
Vayeira or the Many Shades of Shylock
October 21, 2018 by Lynn Greenhough • D'var Torah • Tags: vayeira • 0 Comments
Last week I noted that there is a Midrashic tradition that Torah existed before Torah (as we know it). In Midrash Bereshit Rabbah we see an elucidation of this idea. Referencing Mashal, or the Book of Proverbs, our Sages discuss how Wisdom existed before Creation. “The Lord made me as the beginning of His way, […]
Lech Lecha
October 14, 2018 by Lynn Greenhough • D'var Torah • Tags: lech lecha • 0 Comments
With the opening of Lech Lecha, I realize again how difficult it is to go beyond these two not-so-simple words. Go. Go where? What constitutes a journey, especially in our minds? How do we hear the voice of God: Commanding as in the domain of the Leviathan, or insistent as a mosquito? And how do […]
Noach
October 8, 2018 by Lynn Greenhough • D'var Torah • Tags: noach • 0 Comments
Shabbat shalom Noach is described not just as a tzadik, a righteous man, he is a tzadikta’meem; he is perfect. Or in Rashi’s words, Noach was simple-hearted in his complete acceptance of God’s ways: “Walk with Him simple-heartedly (bet’mimus) and look forward to what He has in store.” In the word ta’meem we learn that […]
October 1, 2018 by Lynn Greenhough • D'var Torah • Tags: bereshit • 0 Comments
God creates the world in six days. On the first day He makes darkness and light. On the second day He forms the heavens, dividing the “upper waters” from the “lower waters.” On the third day He sets the boundaries of land and sea, and calls forth trees and greenery from the earth. On the […]
Toldot: Deception – or love?
November 4, 2018 by Lynn Greenhough • D'var Torah • Tags: toldot • 0 Comments
In the early twentieth century a man was brought to Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook. This father had given his son a good Jewish education, he tried to set a good example, and he kept the mitzvot. Now, however, his son had drifted away from Judaism; he no longer kept mitzvot, he did not even identify […]