These and Those

Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem

Archive: January 2011

בא, bo

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Avi Strausberg

this is the parsha where it all happens.  the full wrath of God, manifested in swarming locusts and complete darkness, falls not only pharoah but on the egyptian people, while the israelites watch protected on the sidelines.  when God sent thunder and hail and fire raining down on all of egypt, which struck every man Continue Reading »

וארא, va’era

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Avi Strausberg

in this week’s parsha, parshat וארא,  i struggled with God’s hand in the hardening of pharoah’s heart and the destruction and violence that result.  while pharoah certainly has within him the seed to be the oppressive, tyrannical ruler that dominates this parsha, pharoah’s refusal and stubbornness to release the jewish people, seems to stem from Continue Reading »

שמות, shmot

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Avi Strausberg

we get our first hint “that we’re not in kansas in anymore” (dorothy, wizard of oz), when on our first page of our brand new book shmot, we learn that there’s a new king in town, and this new king does not know nor seem to care at all for joseph.  this first parsha שמות, Continue Reading »

ויחי, vayechi

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Avi Strausberg

oops! I forgot to post this last week! this week’s parsha, ויחי, “he lived,” opens and closes with death.  yaakov, recently uprooted from his home and supplanted to egypt, makes his son yosef swear that he will bury him in the burial place of his fathers.  even after yosef agrees without protest, yaakov insists yosef Continue Reading »

בראשית לשמות, beresheit to shmot

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 »

ויגש, vayiggash

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 »

מקץ, mikkets

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 »

וישב, vayeshev

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 »

וישלח, vayishlah

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 »

ויצא, vayetze

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 »