Category
November 23, 2010
Bullies among us
Tears can be good or bad; the worst tears of all accompany a child’s death. In this week’s portion, Vayeshev, Jacob experiences such tears when he sees the blood-soaked “coat of many colors” that he personally made for Joseph. Assuming Joseph’s death, Jacob declares, “I shall descend in mourning into Sheol,” the netherworld. Sheol comes from the root “to question.” Jacob shall never make sense of his tragic loss. His grief inconsolable, Jacob never stops questioning why and wondering “what if.”\n
Bible’s Song of Songs – Still love’s anthem
“My beloved is mine and I am his …” With such soulful beauty does that single line, from the Song of Songs, capture the essence of enduring love that one can almost think of it as an anthem for engagements and weddings. It can be found as border decoration or embellishment in countless ketubot (wedding contracts) and has provided the text for numerous songs in honor of the bride and groom. The joy depicted in Song of Songs, the only book of lyric love poetry contained in the Bible, is undeniable. But like love itself, Song of Songs also contains immense depths and unanswerable questions.
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