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From the Rabbi's Desk

Parshat Toledot

11/17/2023 02:04:37 PM

Nov17

Rabbi Hearshen

Ya’akov stood in his father’s room giving him food that his mother, Rivkah, had prepared. Ya’akov was wearing his brother’s clothing and had fur on his arms to mimic his brother’s hairiness. The scent, the feel and the food all seemed to be from Esav but the voice was the voice of Ya’akov. Yitzchak said that “the voice was the voice of Ya’akov and the hands were the hands of Esav.” (Bereshit 27:22)  This scene is the...Read more...

Parshat Chaye Sarah

11/10/2023 02:00:11 PM

Nov10

Rabbi Hearshen

Parshat Chaye Sarah opened with the death of the matriarch Sarah and her eventual burial.  Avraham was confronted with the death of his life partner, and in that moment he was grieving and found himself in need of a place to bury his beloved. Naturally, he wanted to bury her somewhere near his home, so he went and asked the Hittites, the locals, for a burial place. The Hittites replied that Avraham was a good person (paraphrasing) and...Read more...

Parshat VaYera

11/03/2023 10:53:16 AM

Nov3

Rabbi Hearshen

Two years ago, I had one of the proudest and happiest days of my life. When Ayelet stood in our sanctuary and read from the Torah, I was filled with so much emotion. We had known the date of Ayelet’s Bat Mitzvah for quite some time. Ayelet was born on Shabbat and thus precisely on the Torah portion וירא/VaYera. We found it to be so meaningful because of our difficult journey to be parents, and the difficulty of Abraham and Sarah to...Read more...

Parshat Lech Lecha

10/27/2023 01:03:26 PM

Oct27

Rabbi Hearshen

Where did this all begin? When did our connection to the Land of Israel start? Many have tried to erase the historic and irrefutable record of Jewish/Hebrew/Israelite presence in the Land of Israel and many have failed. At the end of Parshat Noach we meet a new person, Terach, and his family who lived in Ur (modern day Iraq). The text tells us he took his son and daughter-in-law, Abram and Sarai, their nephew (from Abram’s brother), Lot,...Read more...

Israel Resources

10/25/2023 09:16:09 AM

Oct25

Rabbi Hearshen

The following resources are good sources of information about the war in Israel. They include emails you can sign up for, websites to stay connected to, podcasts, and YouTube channels. I believe all of them will do a far better job of keeping us informed and educated than our local, national and cable news.

Emails:

AJC (American Jewish Committee)

They will send updates on the latest relevant info from Israel. You can...Read more...

Sun, May 5 2024 27 Nisan 5784