Josh Bender – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)

Josh Bender – Senior Sermon (RS ’24)

Nov 2, 2023 By JTS Senior Sermon | Senior Sermon | Short Video | Vayera

Josh Bender Senior Sermon on Parshat Vayera

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Hagar’s Tears and Ours: Choosing Connection over Despair 

Hagar’s Tears and Ours: Choosing Connection over Despair 

Nov 3, 2023 By Ayelet Cohen | Commentary | Vayera | Rosh Hashanah

Genesis offers us narratives of our biblical ancestors struggling with many of the deepest challenges that we may face in our lives, whether in our familial or interpersonal relationships or as we face the uncertainty, fear, and loss of living in a broken world. Throughout the Genesis cycle we encounter families who accept the fallacy that there is not enough blessing to go around, and thus make terrible mistakes. Parents choose favorite children, siblings are pitted against each other as rivals. This year we return to these stories shattered by the horrific violence of the October 7th massacres, as we see a new and terrifying chapter unfold in the primal conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. We know that there is enough suffering and trauma and outrage to go around. We wonder if there is enough compassion or enough hope to carry us through this time.  

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The Sacrifices of Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac

The Sacrifices of Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac

Sep 12, 2023 By Aaron Koller | Public Event video | Video Lecture | Vayera | Rosh Hashanah

In the Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah, we read about the dissolution of Abraham’s family. First Ishmael is banished and nearly dies in the desert; Hagar leaves the household where she has lived for decades; and finally God commands Abraham to sacrifice his remaining son, Isaac. How do these stories come together, and how do they contribute to the ‘biography’ of the first patriarch? We see how these linked narratives develop some of the themes of Genesis—and why they are appropriate for the New Year. 

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Women of Faith

Women of Faith

Nov 11, 2022 By Amy Kalmanofsky | Commentary | Vayera

Abraham passed God’s litmus test of faith. God commands Abraham to take his beloved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and kill him. Faithful Abraham does not hesitate. Genesis 22 may be the most loved and hated story in the Torah by every reader, no matter what their faith. Certainly, generations of Jews have struggled to make sense of this story, and of the father and God it portrays.

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Rosh Hashanah Torah Readings

Rosh Hashanah Torah Readings

By The Jewish Theological Seminary | Collected Resources | Va'era | Vayera | Rosh Hashanah

Both of the Torah readings for Rosh Hashanah are taken from Parsha Vayera. The first day reading tracks the birth of Isaac, the exile of Hagar and the subsequent saving of Ishmael. The Akedah or Binding of Isaac is read on the second day.

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Lessons from Lot’s Daughters

Lessons from Lot’s Daughters

Oct 22, 2021 By Abby Eisenberg | Commentary | Vayera

Parashat Vayera is the fourth Torah portion after Simhat Torah, the celebration of our annual Torah reading cycle and the culmination of the fall holidays. As we begin the new year, we also begin anew our exploration of ancestral family dynamics. Arguably one of the most famous parent-child scenes in all of literature can be found in Vayera: that of Abraham bringing Isaac to offer him as sacrifice. The parashah also contains another version of child sacrifice when Lot, Abraham’s nephew, subjects his unnamed daughters to assault and danger. From the tragedy of Jephthah’s daughter to the boldness of the daughters of Zelofehad, relationships between fathers and daughters in Tanakh are both deeply troubling and inspiring. The story of Lot and his daughters is certainly the former, and, perhaps surprisingly, potentially the latter.

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Running Far, Drawing Near

Running Far, Drawing Near

Nov 6, 2020 By Naomi Kalish | Commentary | Vayera

“Shalom, shalom to the one who is far away and to the one who is close.” Drawn from the Yom Kippur haftarah, the editors of Mahzor Lev Shalem used these words to open the high holiday prayer book. This year the words held a special poignancy, as each of us was simultaneously “the one who is far away” and “the one who is close.”

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The Gravity of Laughter

The Gravity of Laughter

Nov 16, 2019 By Ariella Rosen | Commentary | Vayera

Parashat Vayera opens with a flurry of action. Yet several of the narrative’s most significant moments are driven not by action, but by reaction.

After Abraham runs to welcome the three wandering strangers he sees from the entrance to his tent, inviting them to bathe, rest, and feast, the action slows, opening space for a story to play out in the realm of emotions. The strangers share the news that in one year’s time, Sarah will give birth to a son, ending the couple’s decades-long wait to fulfill their destiny as the parents of a nation.

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