Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

How involved should parents and children be in each other's lives?  Is there a graceful way of allowing those we love and live with to be responsible for their own lives while still offering whatever support and nurturance that lays within our power? The issue of where parental responsibility ends and where a child's begins is hardly new to our own age.  In every generation, parents have struggled with their appropriate role as their child reaches adulthood and begins to live an independent life.  Read more...

In an incredible twist of meaning, this week’s Torah portion, Hayyei Sarah - the Life of Sarah, actually focuses on her death and on the life of her son, Isaac.  Having survived being sacrificed by his father at the altar, Isaac experiences the painful loss of his mother.  In yet another transformative moment, Isaac comes face to face with Rebecca, the woman who becomes his wife and his beloved partner.  And, in the moments before their meeting, the Torah tells us "Isaac went out to talk (Hebrew – lasuach) in the field before evening."  So, who is it that Isaac speaks wi Read more...

Each year, the Torah repeats the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and each year I am puzzled by the same thing: why did Lot delay leaving the city, why did Lot’s wife look back, and why did she turn into a pillar of salt?   Read more...

Notice how it's easier to criticize from a distance than it is to make a positive difference?  Sitting in a comfortable chair in the safety of our suburban homes, we peruse the newspapers and comment on the "obvious" solution, even though that solution seems to have escaped the attention of everyone else in the world. Almost everyone succumbs to the temptation to solve the world's problems, over coffee, or while watching the nightly news. But notice how few are the numbers of people who volunteer at the local hospital, for the AIDS walk, or at a nearby synagogue. Read more...

We all know people who blame their every misfortune on their parents.  Long after their teen years are over, often into their thirties, forties, and beyond, they continue to lay their own problems and their personal shortcomings at their parents' doorsteps. Read more...