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...
by Cantor Sally L. Neff | Jun 15, 2018 | D'var Torah, Numbers
In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Korach, Korach and his band stage a rebellion against Moses and Aaron saying, “You’ve gone too far. Why do you raise yourself up above us?” When Moses hears, he falls on his face. He puts it to G-d to decide. This ends badly...
by Cantor Sally L. Neff | Jun 1, 2018 | D'var Torah, Numbers
A famous Buddhist parable tells of a group of blind men who heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town. Since none knew what an elephant was like, they endeavored to describe it based on their sense of touch. The first man, standing...