The history of the cliffhanger probably isn’t much older than the late 19th century. Stories were serialized, first in newspapers and later in motion pictures, and authors wanted to entice the reader or viewer to tune back in for the following installment. A common device was to interrupt the story at a point where the hero was hanging for dear life onto a cliff — either literally or figuratively — and you needed to wait until the next episode to discover his or her fate.

The 21st century is a time when man should be at his greatest level of stability and security.

Shabbat in 16th-century Safed must have been a mind-blower. Reading the historical documents of this era and the exploits of the Safed mystics transports one to another universe. The rabbis of this mystical city used to usher in the Sabbath out in the field with tremendous fervor and emotion. One can only imagine the throng of rabbis in flowing beards and white tunics, their feet barely touching the ground, dancing with the angels in a circle as the sun was setting. The Sabbath Queen was never more palpable than amid the beauty and mystery of this magical place and time. We try to recapture that magic every time we sing “Lecha Dodi,” the Friday night hymn written by one of these mystics, Rabbi Shlomo HaLevi Alkebetz (d. 1580).

Our Torah portion this week contains a story filled with more tragedy and pathos than any soap opera. A young man, whose mother was an Israelite woman by the name of Shlomit bat Divri but whose father was Egyptian, gets into an argument with another fellow. Scripture does not reveal their exchange, but, as a result of this quarrel, Shlomit’s son cursed God, which was deemed a capital offense; he was executed by Moses’ court.

Joseph had a hard life. His own brothers sold him as a slave. He was libeled by his master, thrown in a horrible prison and forced to live far away from his beloved father and family. Yet he was not broken by his experience and he never shed a tear.

What makes for a good tragedy? What ingredients need to go into a play or story for it to evoke strong emotion from the audience? This topic dates back to the times of the ancient Greeks, who invented the word “tragedy” and who considered it a very important form of entertainment.