Hayei Sarah (Sarah’s Life) B’resheet/Genesis 23:1-25:18
Vayikra (And He Called) Leviticus 1:1-5:26
Mikketz (It Came to Pass) B’resheet/Gen 41:1-44:17
: Mikketz (It Came to Pass) B’resheet/Genesis 41:1-44:17
Haftorah Readings: I Kings 3:15-4:1
Today I have two points for us to ponder. I have read the weekly portions of Torah every week for years and both of these points I have never noticed before so I look forward to sharing these with you today. It will be new for me and I hope for you also.
I would like to start with Genesis 42:1. In this verse we read of a conversation between Jacob and his children. “And Jacob saw that there was food in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, Why are you looking at each other.”
B’resheet (In the beginning) B’resheet/Gen. 1:1-6:8
Torah Portion: B’resheet (In the beginning) B’resheet/Genesis 1:1-6:8
Haftorah Reading Isaiah 42:5-43:10
Tonight, we begin our Torah cycle readings with this section on the story of the creation of the world and the beginning of humans in G-d’s world. To emphasize an important grammatical difference between Hebrew and English, I want to read the first five words in our section. In English we read, “In the beginning G-d created…” In Hebrew a word for word translation would be, “In the beginning created G-d.” You will notice there is a difference. In Hebrew the verb comes first before you read who performed the action. This shows us an important rule for all of us to remember. What we do, how we live, our actions are of supreme importance. How we spend the time G-d grants us on this earth matters. How we go through our days speaks volumes to the world around us.
Ki Tetze (When You Go Out) D’Varim (Deut.) 21:10-25:19
Torah Portion: Ki Tetze (When You Go Out) D’Varim (Deut.) 21:10-25:19
Haftorah Reading Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 54:1-10
Today we read a Torah portion that contains more commandments than any other portion we will read. One of my questions was, what do you see as the overall theme of this portion? This portion is always read during the month of Elul. During this month we are to be focused on where we are in our relationship with our fellowman. Do we have issues we need to clear up? This subject plays into the overall point of this portion. What did you see as the emphasis of this portion? It seems to me from beginning to end, this portion speaks about our relationships with other people, even down to the mother bird sitting on her next. It is about relationships and how we are to live in peace and harmony with our world, our neighbors and others. The overriding theme is about a life of kindness and mercy toward others and G-d’s creation.
Shemot Exodus 1
Torah Portion: Shemot Exodus 1:1-6:1
HafTorah: Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23
Acts 7:17-35; I Cor. 14:18-25
I would like us to begin by looking at Moses’ name. His name appears 740 times in the five books of Torah and yet it is an Egyptian name rather than a Hebrew name. It does have some similarities with Hebrew but here we read that Pharaoh’s daughter gave him this name. So why didn’t his Hebrew name get into the text? Surely he had one – every Hebrew boy was given a name at his Brit Milah.