The Parsha in a Nutshell This summary is adapted from this week’s main Covenant & Conversation essay by Rabbi Sacks, available to read in full via the left sidebar Why Yaacov? That is the question we find ourselves asking repeatedly as we read through the stories in the book of Bereishit. Unlike Noach, Yaacov is not described as righteous, perfect…
…Educational Companion Torah Trivia: this week’s answer Answer 1: The six parshiyot are: Noach, Chayei Sarah, Yitro, Korach, Balak, and Pinchas. Interestingly, four of these six are named for non-Jews. Answer 2: The inanimate object that is described performing a human action is the earth, as it says “and the earth opened its mouth” (Bamidbar 16:32). The inanimate object that…
…homeland. Chessed, showing kindness to others, is one of our most powerful weapons. Parsha Puzzle Question: Noach’s son Shem had a son called Arpachshad (Look him up in Bereishit chapter 11). What did Yitzchak and Arpachshad have in common? Answer: Yitzchak and Arpachshad were both born to 100-year-old fathers. Shem was 100 when Arpachshad was born (see Bereishit 11:10). Avraham…
…“regretted that He had made human beings on earth.” He brought the Flood and began again, this time with the righteous Noach, but again, humans disappointed Him.And so God chose another way – this time with a living example: Avraham, Sarah, and their children who would become a people with a covenant and the Torah.. The commands of the Torah…
…God rejects humanity, saving only Noach, when He sees the world full of violence. Yet after the Flood He vows: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done” (Bereishit 8:21). That is the…
…was a point when I was a little involved – the hanhola [board of directors] in Lubavitch in London asked me just to get involved a little bit – there was a point in the 1970s and 80s, when the Rebbe developed a very interesting campaign – the sheva mitzvos benei noach campaign – to reach out not just to…
Set between the pre-history of humanity as a whole and the particular covenant with Abraham, the story of the Tower of Babel is one of the turning points of the biblical narrative, central to its vision of what can go wrong in civilisations and societies. The story itself – told in a mere nine verses – is a compact masterpiece…
…Genesis 9, was with Noah, and through him, with all humanity. I call this the covenant of human solidarity. According to the Sages it contains seven commands, the sheva mitzvot bnei Noach, most famous of which is the sanctity of human life: He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image…
Find all 50 life-changing ideas listed below. Click on any of the parsha titles to read the full essays. FROM THE BOOK OF BEREISHIT: BEREISHIT: God believes in us even if we don’t always believe in ourselves. Remember this, and you will find the path from darkness to light. NOACH: Next time you meet someone radically unlike you, try seeing…
…Genesis develops. It begins with characters and events whose significance is that they are universal archetypes: Adam and Chava, Kayin and Hevel, Noach and the Flood, the builders of Bavel. Their stories tell us about the human condition as such: obedience and rebellion, faith and fratricide, hubris and nemesis, technology and violence, the order God makes and the chaos we…