What to Remember and What to Forget
Our Jewish tradition speaks frequently about the gift of memory. One of the most devastating illnesses of our times is Alzheimer's, a disease that destroys memory. Families are overcome by anguish when parents no longer recall who their children are.
Two Ways of Meeting God
The parchment inside the mezuzah contains two names of God. On the outside of the scroll is the name Shaddai, often translated as "God Almighty." Inside the parchment, the first line of the Shema bears the sacred name YHVH, which we read as Adonai.
Family Trees, Branches, and Identity
The Book of Genesis involves a patchwork of stories. These are held together by an overarching framework that I refer to as "the ideological overlay."How are we to understand this structure? Picture eggs in an eggcrate.
Manna from Heaven: What Could Be Better?
“Now when Pharaoh let the people go . . . ” (Exodus 13:17) or b’shalach, “sent away” the people, there were no shortcuts.
Earning the Privilege of Walking Before God
What Noah is to humanity, Abraham is to the Jewish people. Both were destined to initiate something new: Noah became the ancestor of a renewed humankind; Abraham revolutionized faith by relating to God in a new way.
L’arche ou le Triomphe?
In Parashat Noach, the Torah builds on the founding myths of Parashat B’reishit by showing us a fascinating cycle of destruction and rebuilding, speaking both to the immense positive power of human planning and execution, and to the inherent negative possibilities that come with it.
Are the Floodwaters God's Tears? Essential Tools for Beginning Anew
"I am establishing My covenant with you; never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth" (Genesis 9:11).