News stories about antisemitic incidents, or perhaps even incidents we ourselves have experienced, have many Jews on edge right now. Our Torah portion for today tells the story of one of our patriarchs similarly on edge.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

Water is life. This week, Rabbi Janet Roberts led us in an exploration of our patriarchs Abraham, and then Isaac, securing water rights in the arid desert. There are surprising similarities between the two stories, but some real differences. too.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

When there are gaps in the biblical tales our Rabbis created stories—or midrash—based on Bible passages that fill in the gaps. One place our ancient Rabbis did that was about the relationship between Abraham and his first-born son, Ishmael, after the death of Sarah. But Jews are not the only people to do that; Muslims have also offered gap-filling stories, the Stories of the Prophets, about their heroes. This week Rabbi Jaech introduced us to the Islamic version about the the relationship between Abraham and Ishmael after the death of Sarah.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

In her comments to our congregation, Rabbi Jaech stated that the terror Hamas unleashed in Israel on October 7 was evil, and that Hamas knew that innocent Palestinians would suffer. This week’s Torah portion, from the book of Genesis, contains the story of devastation of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; places where, Abraham will argue, righteous people lived and will perish. 

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

Today’s gut-wrenching news coming out of Israel, and also here at home, has been difficult for many of us. Rabbi Janet Roberts finds comfort in being part of a community and in studying our ancient text, so today she lead our group in a discussion of Psalm 130.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

Did Noah bring one pair of all animals on earth, or seven pairs of some and one pair of others? Was Noah and his family on the ark for a year, or for 4 months? Did Noah send out a raven or a dove? Why did God promise never again to destroy all creatures on earth? Our Bible gives us more than one answer to these questions, and this week Rabbi Jaech takes us on an exploration of these inconsistencies.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

This week's podcast and blog begins with quotes from Rabbi Jaech's Friday night sermon following the horrific attacks in Israel. Rabbi Jeach reminds us that we carry the breath and spark of divine in us, and we cannot let that spark be snuffed out by hate, for if we do, who are we? Even when the task seems insurmountable, we are part of building a better world. That is our sacred mission.

This link is to a blog post by Rabbi Wendy Pein that shares tangible actions we can take in this time of need: https://www.tinw.org/rabbi-pein-blog.html?post_id=1465541

For our Torah Study this week, Rabbi Jaech reminds us that Reform Jews are not a movement that dogmatically follows biblical laws, although we do emphasize ethical laws. What is hoped for of Reform Jews is to study the laws, and then to make our own informed decisions. This week we look at choices in the foods we eat.

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

But the writer of the Deuteronomy  claims that “no one knows where [Moses's] grave is.” Our guest-leader today, Professor David Sperling, looked at the text of the Bible as well as text from the Mesha Stele—a 9th century BCE stone slab discovered in the 19th century—which may provide additional insight. Is it true that no one knows where the grave is, or if that is just... fake news?!

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

References to Sukkot in the Bible date from before the 4th century BCE, and then Jews do not have references again in preserved writings until 500 years later—in the Mishnah in the 2nd century CE. The 1st century CE was a time of great unhappiness. The Roman occupation of Israel at that time included high taxation, forced slavery, and the murder of many citizens.[1] To better understand what was happening in Jewish society at that time, we are fortunate to be able to turn to another set of preserved texts: the Christian Bible. 

[1] Fabio Moretti, “The First 100 Years of Roman Occupation” The Jerusalem Post, June 21, 2017. https://www.jpost.com/blogs/why-israel-belongs-to-the-jews/100-years-of-opppression-from-pompeii-to-the-death-of-christ-496410
 

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.

Our guest leader today, Rabbi Janet Roberts, asked us to think about two questions: 1) Where did the Torah come from? 2) Who was the Torah written for? In an ancient Talmudic midrash, Moses debates with the angels where the Torah should kept. Moses points out that the laws in the Torah do not apply to the angels; they apply to humans. This means that the Torah belongs with the humans. Because the angels are already pure, they cannot imbue the laws of the Torah with meaning. Only humans, who need the guidance of the Torah, can bring the Torah to life!

The text of this podcast is available on our blog.
If you like this podcast, you might enjoy the book Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible's Writers, by renowned Bible scholar Dr. S. David Sperling.