November 12, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we read about the births of Yaakov and Eisav, their growing up, Eisav selling his birthright to Yaakov, and Yitzchak’s blessings for his two sons. The parasha begins with an interesting scenario. Rivka is pregnant with her twins. The text says, “the children struggled within her, and she said ‘If this is […]

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November 5, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, following the death of Sarah, Avraham purchases a burial plot and sends his servant, Eliezer, to identify a wife for Yitzchak. Eliezer finds Rivka and brings her to Yitzchak to become his wife. The very end of the parasha recounts Avraham’s death, followed by a listing of the descendants of Yishmael and […]

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October 29, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

This week’s parasha continues with Avraham’s journey through life. It begins with the news that Avraham and Sarah will together have a child; takes us through Avraham’s unsuccessful discussion with God, trying to get Hashem to spare the people of S’dom and Amorrah; follows Avraham and Sarah on their sojourn in Gerar; witnesses the birth […]

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October 22, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, Avram and Sarai follow Hashem’s call to journey to Cana’an, where the covenant between Hashem and Avraham is affirmed. Avram, renamed Avraham, has a son with Hagar, Sarai’s maid, and Hashem promises that Sarai, renamed Sarah, will bear a son as well. One of the remarkable things about the Torah is that […]

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October 15, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we hear about the story of Noach and the flood, about its aftermath when Noach planted a vineyard and got inebriated and his son saw “his nakedness,” and finally, about the story of Migdal Bavel, the Tower of Babel, and the birth of Avram. I believe it is no coincidence that the […]

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October 8, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we read about ma’aseh bereshit (The Act of Creation); Adam and Chava’s sin of eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad and their subsequent expulsion from Gan Eden (The Garden of Eden); Kayin’s murder of his brother, Hevel; and the geneology of Adam and Chava’s descendants, culminating in […]

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October 1, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this Torah portion, the final one in the Torah, which we will read on Simchat Torah, Moshe gives the tribes of Yisrael a final blessing and dies at the age of 120. The Bnei Yisrael mourn and begin to follow Yehoshua, their new leader. The last chapter of the Torah gives an account of […]

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September 24, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

At the end of Moshe’s last speech to Bnei Yisrael, Hashem tells Moshe to write down a song to teach to the Israelites. “Put this song in their mouths,” Hashem says, “so that the words may become a witness for Me against them. After I bring them to the land that flows with milk and […]

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September 17, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this week’s parasha, Moshe concludes his speech to Bnei Yisrael, blesses Yehoshua, and instructs the community to gather every seven years to read publicly from the Torah; Hashem predicts the eventual straying of Bnei Yisrael. This parasha contains the last two of the 613 mitzvot in the Torah. The first is Hakhel (Assembly) in […]

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September 10, 2015 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this week’s parasha, Moshe describes the brit (Covenant) between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael, urging Bnei Yisrael to uphold the brit and honor the Torah so that they may be rewarded with life in the land of Israel. The text makes clear that the relationship between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael is bi-directional, a concept both […]

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