Nothing is so simple in Torah, and so those passages that seem insignificant are generally anything but. In Parashat Vayigash we experience the reuniting of Yaakov and Yosef after their being separated for over twenty years. Between Yaakov's departure to and arrival in Mitzrayim where he and Yosef are reunited, the Torah gives us a full genealogy of Yaakov's children…
It is consistently striking to me that Parashat Mikeitz is nearly always read on Hanukkah. The Festival of Lights is not only a holiday in which we celebrate light in the season of darkness; the Festival of Dedication is also a time during which we reflect on our own personal and collective dedication to Torah. Our Sages of Blessed Memory…
By Rick Chess
Hanukkah had become a ho-hum holiday for an Asheville professor, until a gathering of friends — and a batch of crisp latkes — awakened his spirit. When I was a kid, and when my kids were growing up, I liked Hanukkah well enough — the colored candles were pretty, the presents were memorable, the latkes were OK — but the…
The families in Torah are easy for us to relate to, and it has often been stated and discussed that this is because they are simply dysfunctional and while they are our role models in so many regards, their family lives are generally not at ease - like so many of us. This seems to begin with the tension between…
In two places in Parashat Vayishlah Yaakov is told his name will no longer be Yaakov: first in his wrestling match, and then later upon finally returning from his time away to the same place at which he had his dream of the ladder and God appears to him. In both of these verses the text declares that his name will…
I'll never forget my first day in Asheville. 1997, standing in the parking lot of the French Broad Food Co-op thinking, "I will live here one day." Throughout my years at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in L.A., I often thought of Asheville and CBI. Danielle and I were married in Montford. Our aufruf (when the groom is called to the Torah) was in the small CBI chapel. To be honest, I never envisioned being a pulpit rabbi - I love community organizing and non-profit management - but if there was one place I would want to be a pulpit rabbi, I knew it would be here. (read more)