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Loving Kindness in the Torah

Nov 6, 1999 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

We don’t pick spouses for our children anymore. But if we did, what trait would we single out as the best indicator of a happy marriage?

Clean Hands and a Pure Heart

Nov 14, 1998 By JTS Alumni | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

By Rabbi Lawrence Troster

Psalm 24 asks: “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?” The answer given is: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not taken a false oath by My life or sworn deceitfully (Ps. 24:3-4).” The medieval commentator David Kimhi of Provence (1160-1235) felt that the answer to the question lists three requirements: proper action—clean hands; proper thoughts—pure heart; and faith in speech—not swearing deceitfully. We might say that these characteristics constitute the complete person of religious integrity. In thought, action and speech, such a person is in harmony with God and the world.

Faith in Israel’s Destiny

Nov 22, 1997 By Morton M. Leifman z”l | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

This week’s Torah portion, Haye Sarah, provides us with yet another ancient episode that eventually contributed to the molding of the mythic consciousness of our people in a profound way. It begins with the death of Sarah and continues on with a lengthy description of the legal and business arrangements necessary for Abraham’s acquisition of land for Sarah’s burial. Abraham’s status in the land of Canaan is that of ger v’toshav, a resident alien, and though a man of great substance, even a person of renown, one honored in the community, his legal status required that he obtain special permission both from the owner of the land and from the community as a whole to buy and to own property. Members of the native clans were reluctant to confer full rights even to resident aliens — especially the right to land ownership which conceivably might deplete the holdings of the progeny of those currently blessed with political control.

Political Extremism in Hebron

Nov 9, 1996 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

Our parasha opens with the death of Sarah at the age of 127. Later in the parasha, when Abraham will breathe his last “at a good ripe age, old and contented (Genesis 25:8),” he will have celebrated 175 birthdays.

Settling and Resettling the Land of Israel

Nov 6, 1993 By Ismar Schorsch | Commentary | Hayyei Sarah

God willing, I shall be in Israel when you read my thoughts on this week’s parasha. I leave Sunday evening to attend the commencement of the Seminary’s Beit Midrash in Jerusalem on November 3, at which we will confer some twenty-five degrees to Israeli students who have completed their course of studies either as rabbis, teachers, or community center workers. These young Israelis, and those who preceded them and those who will follow them, will in due time mainstream Conservative Judaism in Israel, thereby creating the reality of a religious alternative to Orthodoxy.