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abraham

Walking the Land

Rabbi Mimi Weisel October 17, 2002

Every week I go on two walks that I absolutely treasure. Each Sunday, my husband and I walk through a different section of Los Angeles. We have no destination, but our purpose is to exercise. We could choose other forms of exercise. We could be on a treadmill, moving in place without moving in space. Yet this is not as gratifying as walking outside. The walks along the beach or in the hills around the city create another dimension of being.

Men in Black

Marlene Adler Marks March 28, 2002

There in my darkened doorway were two men in black mid-length coats with long, curly beards and black hats; a younger and an older man, with eyes burning so clear and bright that they seemed to be reading from an inner script. There was about their smiling countenances such a sense of purpose, that the word \”messenger\” sprang to mind. They knew and I knew. They had come for me.

The Birth of Chutzpah

Rabbi Ed Feinstein November 16, 2000

We believe in a God who dreams. The Torah is the story of the transaction between God\’s dreams and human reality. God dreams of a world of goodness. God creates humanity – fashioned in the divine image – to share the dream. But human beings betrayed God\’s dreams. We filled the world with violence and murder. God despaired of having created humanity and decided to wash the world clean. But one human being caught God\’s eye – one good man. So God saved Noah and his family, together with a set of earth\’s animals to begin the world again.

Our Decency

Rabbi Steve Leder October 28, 1999

\”At the moment of conception,\” says the Talmud, \”an angel takes the drop of semen from which the child will be formed and brings it before God. \’Master of the Universe, what shall be the fate of this drop?\’ asks the angel. \’Will it develop into a strong person or a weak one? A wise person or a fool? A wealthy person or a poor one?\’ Whether the person will be wicked or righteous, this he does not ask.\”
Why not? Why doesn\’t the angel ask God if the soon-to-be-formed person will be wicked or righteous?

Separation Anxiety

Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh October 21, 1999

\”When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant, I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.\”– Mark Twain
We laugh at this quote because we can sense its truth. Each of us passes through stages of life in relation to our parents. Whether they are alive or deceased; whether we live in close proximity to them or across the country; whether we are emotionally close to them or have grown distant — an ebb and flow often characterizes our relationship to our parents. Parental separation is necessary, but painful. God knew this when, on the second day of creation, after the division of the waters above and below, God refrained from saying \”and it was good.\” Our struggle to separate begins at the womb and continues way beyond the grave.

Torah Portion

Rabbi Ed Feinstein November 20, 1997

Who was the first Jew? All of us learned in Sunday School that thefirst Jew was Abraham. It was our father, Abraham, who detected thepresence of the one true God and championed monotheism in a paganworld. It was with Abraham that God established the Covenant,defining our identity, our mission, our destiny. That\’s true. But thefirst Jew wasn\’t Abraham. The first Jew was his son Isaac.

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