Tag: Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar

Ever feel so alone when struggling with an adversity – health, financial, relationship – that it feels as if the world simply doesn’t understand or can’t relate to your pain? Could it be that in this week’s Torah reading, Moshe feels similarly, having experienced his own traumatic and exhausting experience, followed by anxiety and despair.

It is 80 years since the armed resistance that led to the Warsaw Uprising began… With only a small number of guns, gasoline bottles and other makeshift weapons, the Jews managed to temporarily overpower the Nazis. In this week’s parasha, Beshalach, we read about the incredible courage displayed by an early figure in our history. The Jewish people had been released from slavery in Egypt, only for Pharaoh to change his mind and chase after them with a large army.

The first three Torah portions of Sefer Sh'mot (the Book of Exodus) are the three portions that invite us to exist in Mitzrayim (Egypt), and it is here that I would invite us to dwell one more moment, despite our natural eagerness to leave the place of our degradation and enslavement… Why has the author left us here? Why did we have to stay in Mitzrayim during the ten plagues?

Hashem charges Moshe with a mission – to return to Egypt and demand from Pharaoh that he let the Jewish people go. Hashem tells him that he is the only person in the world who has the capacity to relay this message to Pharaoh. There’s only one problem: Moshe has a speech disability that left him with a stutter… Why would Hashem give a man with a speech impediment such an important task that depends on his ability to use words to convince?

Jew hatred is, and always has been, humanity’s canary in the coal mine, and this is why CAJE and Jewish education is so important. We must remain a distinctive people because we have a job to do in this world... to promote ethical monotheism (belief in a God who demands moral behavior) and to change the world for the better by challenging the gods, religious or secular, of the societies around us… we need to understand our traditions, believe in its sacred power to transform ourselves and the world, and live courageously as bearers of G!d’s hope for humanity.

When people ask me what CAJE is and what CAJE does, I often refer to the famous advertising line and say “CAJE is the ‘Intel inside’ Jewish education in Miami-Dade.” CAJE helps the teachers and schools from early childhood through high school be the best they can be through outstanding professional development and other services. In sum, CAJE is part of the infrastructure of Jewish life and education in our community... This concept of “infrastructure” is embodied in this week’s parshah, Vayechi, which marks the conclusion of the book of Bereishit / Genesis, the first of the Five Books of the Torah.

Our parsha this week, Vayigash, which means to approach, to come close, is the story of Yosef and Yehuda. As we navigate the collective trauma of 10/7, in Israel and abroad, the Torah’s call to come closer, as individuals and as a nation, resonates more than ever.

Our hope as parents and Jewish educators is that a child should rise up and say to themselves: “I am special; I have a special mission and I have special gifts given to me by G!D and the Torah to fulfill that mission.” That mindset is what launches a child into their future and that’s the secret sauce of Jewish education.

Most years, we focus on the joys of the Hanukkah miracle and are uplifted by the story of Israel’s victory over those who would see our national light extinguished. Sadly, this year our attention is also focused on the challenges our people face in Israel and in the United States. We feel as if we are under siege, militarily and culturally... As always, our ancestors have a great deal to teach us in how to survive and thrive in adversity.

So when we have no words…. It’s as if we are stuck in darkness. Our Biblical forefather Jacob was, for much of his life, also someone who dwelt at times in a kind of (spiritual) darkness. Perhaps we can learn from him. Parashat Vayishlach brings us to the climax of the story of Jacob, so much of which takes place at night.

Pittsburgh and Charlottesville, Poway and Monsey… and now we add the Gaza Envelope communities on October 7th in Israel— a litany of names associated with antisemitism over the past five years. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks points out an interesting phrase in Parashat Toldot that foreshadows the antisemitism we are seeing today.

On some level, all Zionism relies on an ancient tradition that gives voice to human pathos, calling all to mercy and empathy in spirit and deed. At its most noble, Zionism could be a triumph of each individual’s yearning for wellbeing and community.

Opening Parshat Vayera, it is difficult to know where to look first. The parsha is filled with so many well-known narratives: Avraham welcoming the three angelic ‘guests’ into his tent… the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah… Sarah’s birth of Isaac… interaction between Sarah, Avraham, and Hagar... the Akedah (binding of Isaac... And these are just snapshots of the stories in this parsha. Your head and heart are pulled in so many directions as you read through the verses. And this is how I feel right now.

I think reading the Torah portion Lech Lecha this week is especially difficult. God promises Abraham and his descendants the land of Israel, inspiring a millennia-long relationship between the land of Israel and the Jewish people that continues to this day. In the wake of the recent events, I think many of us are questioning what it means to be the bearers of that promise... I want to take elements of God’s promise to Abraham and look at the different ways these elements might meet us in our lives right now...

We are living in dark and dangerous times, but as always, our tradition has much to teach us about how to navigate. First, we must recognize that we will all be toggling between our need to go out and impact the world and our need to regroup and strengthen ourselves internally… This need to find a balance between our inward and outward selves is a lesson we can derive from this week’s Torah portion, named for its chief protagonist, Noah.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For You are with me…” All of us are experiencing the many stages of grief and mourning. We are in a valley of darkness and pain, but we will not remain here forever.

Why do we need to be encouraged to be joyful during this week of Sukkot, culminating in Simchat Torah? Isn’t joy something that we should naturally gravitate towards and practice effortlessly? Well… think about your own life. Read about the lives of others. Especially these days it seems that a great many of us are having a difficult time “getting our joy on”…

The Torah instructs us that following the celebration of the seven days of Sukkot,"the eighth day shall be a time of Atzeret [translated as “retreat”] for you when you shall do no mundane work." What is the significance of this eighth day [called Atzeret]? And why does it follow the seven days of Sukkot?