by Cantor Sally L. Neff | Nov 24, 2018 | D'var Torah, Genesis
In this week’s Torah portion, Jacob wrestles with G-d and in the end, G-d blesses him saying, “Your name shall no more be Jacob, but Yisrael.” Yisrael means one who struggles with G-d and, as I wrote in a previous D’var Torah, it is our struggle with and engagement...
by Cantor Sally L. Neff | Nov 8, 2018 | D'var Torah, Genesis
In Genesis 25:29, we read: “One day, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the hunting field. He was famished, and he said to Jacob, ‘I’m famished: let me gulp some of that red stuff!… Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright here and now.’ And Esau said,...
by Cantor Sally L. Neff | Nov 1, 2018 | D'var Torah, Genesis
In this week’s Torah portion, Chayei Sarah, our matriarch, Sarah dies. “…and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her. I imagine that the entire community must have mourned for Sarah, yet that mourning would have been different in color and weight than...