Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on December 16, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
on the closing of beresheit, the first book, and the opening of shmot, the second, i wanted to put side-by-side two haikus. the one through which i opened beresheit and one to reflect on the story of what’s been told. we’ve come along way in a few months. from the darkness and the divisions of Continue Reading »
Posted on December 9, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
okay, this is a two-thought, two-haiku parsha. finally, finally, the dramatic reunion we’ve all been waiting for since joseph’s brothers sold him off to a caravan of ishmaelites many years back. joseph plays his part well: he sends out all the servants, he confesses his concealed identity, and he loudly weeps so that all may Continue Reading »
Posted on December 2, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
this week’s parsha, מקץ, finds not only egypt, but the whole world suffering from a severe scarcity of food. joseph, after prophetically interpreting pharoah’s dreams of the forecoming famine, is put in charge of storing food in preparation for the ominous seven years ahead. many dualities are contained in this parsha. in pharoah’s first dream, Continue Reading »
Posted on November 24, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
in this week’s parsha, וישב, our attention focuses on yaakov’s slew of sons . it seems there is something about yosef, the 11th son, whose very name’s is rooted in the word to add (אסף), that intensifies the experiences and emotions of those around him. with yosef, you seem to either love him or hate Continue Reading »
Posted on November 17, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
if in the past two parshas, there has been a severing of relationships and distancing between the members of yitzhak’s family, this week’s parsha, וישלח, tells of their coming together. previously, the rivalry and trickery involved in jacob’s maneuvering of the birthright and blessing from the rightful first-born esau, led to seeming devastion on both Continue Reading »
Posted on November 11, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
in this week’s parsha, ויצא (vayetze), jacob sets out to bethuel, the house of his mother’s father, to find himself a wife, and perhaps some countless offspring in the progress. he succeeds in landing himself not one, but count them, two wives: leah, the unloved, and rachel, the loved. jacob favors rachel to such an Continue Reading »
Posted on November 8, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
in last week’s parsha, rebecca turns to God to explain the incredible pains she is experiencing in her pregrancy. she is told that she is carrying two people, two nations within her stomach – these two new nations will be realized through the twin birth of jacob and esau. during the pregnancy, ויתרוצצו הבנים בקרבה, the Continue Reading »
Posted on November 2, 2010 by Eryn
on the flood a kick in the sand the castle lies at my feet to begin again on babel handfuls of feathers brought near to the lips of God scattered by his breath May we come together after the scattering. By Avi Strausberg
Posted on November 2, 2010 by Eryn
vayera, וירא Huge, life-changing events happen in this week’s parsha. A city is annihilated, the smoke and ashes of its people filling the land, an entire people are made barren and then healed by God and, the long-awaited child of Sarah and Avraham, Yitzhak, comes within in seconds of a young death, nearly sacrificed to Continue Reading »
Posted on October 27, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
we learn of three deaths in this week’s parsha, whose very title, חיי שרה, contains the word life. the first death, is that of sarah, for whose death, avraham wails and cries, seemingly alone in his grief. in constrast, after avraham’s own death, just pages later, he breathes his last breath, dies, and is Continue Reading »
