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Va-eira
With Tu B’Shevat coming up we look forward to our Spring festivals, Purim, Pesach and Shavuot not far behind. Special readings, special customs and, of course, special foods accompany each celebration. I’m looking forward to that taste of dried fruits, that first hamantaschen, that sharp bite of a Hillel sandwich. Our taste buds are our storehouses of memories.
Shemot
We had a wonderful Shabbat morning service last week – and welcomed many of our students back from holidays and arduous work schedules. Thank you to our volunteers who help with setting up, and helping in the kitchen – you are very much welcomed and appreciated. We are now in the Book of Shemot. The Book […]
Vayechi
Vayechi – Jacob lived, we read these words as Jacob prepares for his death. Similarly, we read earlier in Bereshit, Chaye Sarah, the life of Sarah, and we then immediately read of her death. Our cemeteries are often called a Beit Chayim – a House of Life. What is going on here?
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 […]
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 […]
Bo
January 24, 2023 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: bo •
This coming Shabbat – Shabbat Bo – we will welcome Yardenne Katz into our kehilla officially – it will be her Bat Mitzvah. Bo – come – seems such an appropriate parashah for such a ceremony. Just as God begins the process of leading us to freedom, to redemption, so too will this daughter of covenant find her way, God willing, to come […]