Parashat Vayetzei thought from Rabbi Shai Held

"Can We Be Grateful and Disappointed at the Same Time?" Read here: https://www.hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/can-we-be-grateful-and-disappointed-same-time

Parashat Vayetzi rerun from 2017

Here's a rerun of my Friday, November 24, 2017 post re Vayetze: How could Jacob have mistaken Leah for Rachel? TheTorah.com does it again: This is the most logical explanation I've ever read. Avoiding a 21st- century perspective is the key to understanding this mix-up. See URL in comment.

Rivkah: The Ambivalent Matriarch (by Rabbi Tali Adler [re Parashat Toldot])

I was 75 years old when I read this d'var Torah for the first time, and was quite startled--it had never occurred to me that perhaps Rivkah was a reluctant mother. Rav todot, many thanks, to Rabbi Tali Adler for thinking outside the box. Read here: https://www.hadar.org/torah-tefillah/resources/rivkah-ambivalent-matriarch

Deborah Sacks Mintz toSrenspdom7403muf73lh366ccm706192c030i2013594375l250u16c8lt · Sim Shalom שִׂים שָׁלוֹם // Out everywhere you find your music. *************************************** The lyrics of this song are drawn from one of the closing blessings found in the Amidah - an intention towards the hearkening of the days of peace, goodness, blessing, compassion, lovingkindness, justice; indeed for generations now, we have included this hopeful text as a capstone to our private conversation with the Divine. Generations later, that day of peace feels perhaps further away than ever. When I pray for peace, I often notice I have become cynical, lost, and disingenuous. Creative practice has been one discipline I have turned to in times like these. Our sages never intended these prayers to be stagnant or disconnected from our lived experience - and, like the sages, we too are empowered to creatively read past, present, and future into our liturgy. Read more about the musical and liturgical influences on this song in the Bandcamp liner notes (links to all streaming platforms in comments!) In deep gratitude to the incredible artistic team who collaboratively brought this song into being - particularly my co-writing partner on this piece, Yoshie Fruchter, for the dual postures of curiosity and vision he brings to our hevruta. Thank you for listening, singing, and sharing - and may we one day know a world of shalom and shleimut - peace and wholeness. *********************************************** Sim Shalom שִׂים שָׁלוֹם Produced and directed by R. Deborah Sacks Mintz Music by Deborah Sacks Mintz and Yoshie Fruchter Text from the Shaharit Amidah Deborah Sacks Mintz - lead vocals, cello Hannah Winkler - vocals, piano Chava Mirel - vocals, acoustic guitar Yoshie Fruchter - electric guitar Tal Mashiach - upright bass Sam Weisenberg - percussion Recorded live at the Hadar Institute in New York City, August 2025/Elul 5785 Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Don Godwin Video by UPPERDECK_Film Art by Nireh Or Operational support by Josh Fleett and Abigail Beatty Track Sponsored by David Chaikof in loving memory of Leo Chaikof. From the forthcoming album Songs from the Beit Midrash (Rising Song Records, February 2026)

Parashat Chayyei Sarah, 5786/2025 thoughts

In this morning's Torah reading, Avraham Avinu (Abraham Our Father) sends his (unnamed) servant to find a wife for his son Yitzchak (Isaac). But it's not entirely clear where the servant is supposed to look. Some people translate the word "molad'ti" as "homeland" or "birthplace," while others translate it as "kindred." Clearly, the servant thinks he's being sent to Avraham's homeland, because the test he devises to find a suitable wife for Yitzchak has everything to do with kindness and nothing to do with kinship--if he'd been looking for Nachor's family, he would have asked for directions at the well. Yet, once he finds out that Rivkah is Nachor's granddaughter, he makes quite a show of telling her family that he was sent to find a member of Nachor's family. Apparently, he thinks that flattery will get you everywhere. 🙂 (See also my Saturday, October 30, 2021 post, "My name is—or was—Sarah, and I was the Invisible Matriarch." https://onthefringe_jewishblog.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-name-isor-wassarah-and-i-was.html

P.S.A.: Be careful how often you use earbuds

Public Service Announcement: Please be careful how often you use earbuds. I went to my otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor) the other day, and he pulled out a piece of compressed wax almost big enough to have been the remnant of a 98%-burned Chanukah candle. 😮 It took him three pokes to finish the job, too, and boy, did that hurt! But it wasn't injurious at all--my ear stopped hurting after only about five minutes of me saying "ouch." My ENT advised me not to wear earbuds for at least a week. Apparently, earbuds compress earwax. Don't take a chance--take care of your ears and your hearing by limiting your earbud use! And make sure to see an ENT at least once a year to check not only for possible hearing loss or other problems, but also, to get the wax cleaned out *safely*--given the "fun" I just had, I made another appointment for six months from now.