Our guest today is Rabbi Amy Levin of the Beth Shalom congregation in Pittsburgh, PA. Rabbi Levin, a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, was ordained by the Shechter Institute in Jersualem in 1997. Prior to assuming her current position at Beth Shalom, she served for ten years as the Rabbi of Temple Torat Yisrael in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. From 2008 through 2012, Rabbi Levin served as a mentor for senior rabbinical students at The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, and between 2012-2014 she served as President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island. In 2013 she was named “Faith Leader of the Year” by the Rhode Island State Council of Churches.
This week's Torah portion – Parashat Vayera (Genesis 18:1-22:24) – features several of the most well-known stories in the Bible, including the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the birth of Isaac, the banishment of Hagar and Ishmael, and the binding of Issac. Our discussion focuses on the most dramatic part of the parashah, the binding of Isaac, and on the significance of the word that Abraham utters at its begining: Hineni ('here I am').
If you would like to learn some more about parashat Vayera, check out our talk with Rabbi Talia Avnon-Benveniste.
