by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 22, 2016
After the climactic event of the akeida, the Torah turns its attention to more quotidian matters: the death and burial of Sarah and the finding of a wife for Yitzchak. In this shift, a number of the major characters move off the scene. Not only Sarah and Avraham, but God as well. In our parasha, God is neither Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Asher LopatinPosted on September 23, 2016
What an incredible scene: we meet Rebecca, the heir to the Hebraic dynasty, taking charge of her life and the life of all those around her, and the lives of all those who will be her descendants. Rebecca is incredibly powerful and decisive, not leaving things to chance or happenstance. Rebecca makes the world around Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Haggai ResnikoffPosted on September 7, 2016
There is a need in our community for a review of the criteria we use in selecting mates (values and personal traits rather than aesthetic and material concerns). In addition there is a need to reemphasize that making the choice is not enough- there is tremendous work that still needs to go into a marriage Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Avi WeissPosted on May 25, 2016
Words have the power to express ideas. But as expressive as words can be, they can sometimes be limiting. Often music can give soul and meaning to ideas that words cannot. This concept is also true with respect to the melody (trop) used to read the Torah. The tune actually acts as a commentary on Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 4, 2015
When Avraham charges his servant to find a wife for Yitzchak, the servant asks a strange question: “Perhaps the woman will not desire to follow me to this land. Should I return your son to the land which you came from?” (Breishit, 24:5). The servant’s concern that the woman might resist is unexpected. Laws appearing later in Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on October 25, 2013
After the climax of the akeida at the end of last week’s parsha, Avraham and Sarah quickly disappear from the scene in this week’s parsha. Sarah, of course, dies at the very beginning of the parsha, but even Avraham quickly fades into the background. The spotlight moves to Avraham’s servant, to Rivka and her family, and Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 18, 2011
After the climactic event of the akeida, the Torah turns its attention to more quotidian matters, the death and burial of Sarah and the finding of a son for Yitzchak. In this shift, and in this transition to the next generation, a number of the major characters move off the scene. Not just Sarah, who Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on October 29, 2010
Avraham, at the end of his life, is worried that Yitzchak find a proper wife, and sends his servant back to his homeland to find a wife from his country and his relatives. Thus, Parshat Chayei Sarah is, in a way, a reverse lekh lekha. In parshat Lekh Lekha, Avraham was told to leave his homeland, Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 22, 1997
Chaye Sarah relates the events of Abraham’s life that follow the akedah, the binding of Isaac. Sarah, Abraham’s wife of many years, dies and Abraham acquires a burial plot for her in the land of Cannan. Abraham then sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac, and, on the successful completion of Continue Reading »
