This week, Rabbi Lauren Henderson and Dr. Amy Robertson look at the momentous Bo. As the Hebrews prepare to depart Egypt, the scaffolding that will hold them together as a people begins to appear:  the shared calendar starts, we get instructions for the first communal ritual (even if performed in individual homes, pandemic-style), and we are instructed to commemorate all of this annually, even though the "this" hasn't happened yet. It is a new beginning so big that Rashi pondered whether the Torah should start here.

This week, Rabbi Lauren and Dr. Amy step into the unfolding drama between Pharaoh and the God of Israel. We wonder: of all the tools in God's toolbox, why use plagues? And if plagues, why start with two that the resident magicians can replicate?  We think about the human capacity to ignore emerging information that doesn't align with our worldview, about the "regular folks" who are watching this battle and feeling its consequences, and about Moses, who is already proving to be much more than just a mouthpiece for God. 

Rabbi Lauren and Amy begin the book of Exodus with the mesmerizing first meeting between God and Moses. What do we learn about Moses, the shepherd who stops to wonder at a burning bush? What do we learn about God, whose name itself is hard to hold onto? And perhaps most importantly -- how do these two beings relate and respond to each other, beginning the beautiful, complex, holy partnership that will lead us all the way to the Jordan River? 

We come to the end of the book of Genesis this week with Vayechi. Rabbi Lauren and Amy look for moments of resolution and closure, but find a text that points both  back into the past and ahead into the future. Reading about Jacob and Joseph's deaths, we think about the impact of one's death for the communities we live in and about the multiple communities our ancestors were a part of (and us, too!). And though we all know where this Egypt situation is going, we try to revel for a moment in the real love and respect between Israel and this generation of Egyptians. Before it was bad, it was good.

This week, Rabbi Lauren Henderson and Dr. Amy Robertson discuss Vayigash. We point out Joseph's somewhat meandering path to forgiving his brothers, and wonder, too, at the complexity of the plan that Joseph ascribes to God. Did God indeed intend for Joseph to spearhead a plan that transferred all the personal wealth in Egypt to Pharaoh? 

Rabbi Lauren and Dr Amy share their wide-ranging conversation about the story of Joseph: the relationship of clothing to identity, the worries that arise for us as we watch Pharaoh delegate his power so quickly and completely, how we imagine Joseph's loneliness and need to belong, and how this story of a Jew rising to power in a foreign court fits together with the stories of Esther and Daniel.

Rabbi Lauren Henderson and Dr. Amy Robertson discuss Genesis 38, the story of Judah and Tamar. In the midst of this strange and dramatic story, we dig into questions of identity. How do we present ourselves to the world, and why? And who holds a mirror up to us, giving us an honest look at who we are? 

This week, Rabbi Lauren Henderson and Dr. Amy Robertson read Genesis 34, a story that recounts the rape of Jacob's daughter Dinah, primarily through the lens of her brothers' values and priorities. But Dinah's perspective itself is entirely absent. How do we, as modern people, read a text like this one? Can we recover Dinah in any meaningful way? Can we, in good faith, read this story only through the abstract and patriarchal lens of "honor"? 

This week Rabbi Lauren Henderson and Dr. Amy Robertson look at Vayetzei and try to parse the complicated "truth detector" system that Jacob sets up in his negotiations with Laban. Why set up such a system only to immediately undermine it? What is the relationship between Jacob's own manipulations and God's will for Jacob? And how do we feel about having such a critical ancestor who gets into such shenanigans in the first place?

Rabbi Lauren Henderson and Dr. Amy Robertson read Parsha Toldot and wonder: what does Rebecca make of the oracle she receives? Is her act of deception merited because of it? What does Isaac really believe to be true when he gives his blessing -- and is there really only one?