by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 23, 2016
Our responsibility to speak truth to power and protect victims of injustice, whether Jew or non-Jew, is a major theme of one of the central stories of parashat VaYeira, the story of Avraham arguing with God to defend Sodom and Amorah. This scene is powerful not only because Avraham challenges God, but also because Avraham Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 18, 2016
Why did God test Avraham with the command to offer Yitzchak as a sacrifice? This is really two questions. First, what purpose was the akeidah meant to serve? And second, how could God have commanded such a reprehensible act, implicitly condoning murder, even if the plan was to retract the command all along? Midrash Tanhuma Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on October 27, 2016
by Rabbi Aryeh KlapperPosted on October 26, 2016
by Michelle Friedman, MDPosted on May 25, 2016
How might we understand the Hagar narrative? We find the first Hagar episode in Lech Lecha, where she conceives Ishmael. Parshat Vayera swings between emotional highs and lows and is rich with lessons concerning how God’s children should properly parent their own offspring so that the legacy of creation is transmitted forward. The second Hagar Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on October 30, 2015
Do we want a religion of fire or ice, of passionate religious fervor or sober, detached rationality? In many ways, Modern Orthodoxy has chosen the latter. This goes beyond an emphasis on the intellectual, on prizing Talmudic scholarship and broad academic achievement. It also entails devaluing the emotional in religious life, diminishing the place of Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 4, 2014
As our parasha opens, God appears, va’yeira, to Avraham while he is sitting by the opening of his tent. Immediately thereafter, Avraham sees, va’yar, three men standing near him. He sees them again, and he runs to greet them. This pairing of God appearing and Avraham seeing brings us back to the beginning of Parashat Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on October 18, 2013
Is it ever permissible to kill an innocent person in the name of God? Both our religious and ethical intuitions scream “no”! Halakha and Torah values consistently underscore the sanctity of human life and the injustice of allowing harm to come to innocent people, and from an ethical standpoint such an act is the very Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 2, 2012
This Tuesday, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, many YCT semikha students went down to the Lower East Side to help those suffering from the effects of the hurricane. Students spent several hours handing out water, batteries and flashlights to elderly people stuck in their apartments with no power. Many of these residents were Jews, Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 11, 2011
In a parasha that contains the stories of the birth and binding of Yitzchak, and the overturning of Sodom, I wish to write about a seemingly trivial point. The pasuk states (Breishit 18:1): וַיֵּרָ֤א אֵלָיו֙ ה בְּאֵלֹנֵ֖י מַמְרֵ֑א And the LORD appeared unto him in the palace of Mamre Mamre, I believe, is the unsung hero Continue Reading »
by Rabbi Dov LinzerPosted on November 6, 2009
Parshat Va’Yera has many powerful stories and images, but perhaps the two most powerful are the story of Avraham arguing with God to save Sodom and Amora, and the story that is climax of the parsha, Avraham offering Yitzchak up as a sacrifice. The first of these captures our imagination because it shows Avraham’s deep Continue Reading »
