Parshat Vayetzei; Genesis 28:10-32:3 By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

We are already in the month of Kislev, the month of Chanukah as we read this portion. The story of Jacob’s hurried departure from his home to escape the wrath of his brother Esau opens our Torah reading. Jacob has conspired with his mother, Rebekkah to receive Isaac’s blessing that was intended for the first born. Last week’s parasha, Toledot highlighted a number of times that Jacob usurped his brother’s position as first –born and the birthright. Thus following the strand that among the people Israel it is not the first born who rise to the position of covenantal inheritor but the second born.

Jacob on his way to Haran has an “A-ha” moment. He goes to sleep, has a vivid dream and in his dreams he has his own encounter with the Divine. He awakens and acknowledges the sanctity of not only the place that he is in physically but the place he is in spiritually and emotionally! We might call it a light bulb moment. When the light bulb goes on and we can see clearly—the connections that enliven and enrich our life. This is exactly what happens to Jacob. His dream of the ladder and the angels going up and down and God speaking directly to him brings Jacob into the covenant with our ancestors in his own unique way. Yes, he kind of understood his role from his father’s blessing –“May God give you of the dew of heavens and of the fatness of the earth and abundant grain and wine.” (Gen. 27:28) But it isn’t until Jacob awakens from his dream that he seems to understand the covenantal connection to God. After his dream, Jacob makes a vow to God, that as God has promised him protection and deliverance, Jacob if he returns safely to his father’s house will keep his loyalty to God and the covenant.

That light bulb moment of Jacob following his dream is what we need to pay attention to. Especially in dark times, in difficult moments. We need to seek out opportunities to make those very profound connections to the Divine and to the holy. We need to be open to the possibility that God still speaks to us even through the cacophony of our world.

In a concrete way, this month we have an opportunity to help further the divine connections in our world and create our own light bulb moments. It is no secret that our planet is warming. Global warming and its consequences have already made an impact in our lives through changing weather patterns and fierce storms. We must reduce the greenhouse gasses that are overheating our planet.

One way to help reduce green house gasses this Chanukah season is to join with others in the Jewish community to change out the standard light bulbs in your home or office and replace them with compact fluorescent light bulbs or CFLs. If every home in America changed just one light bulb to a CFL bulb it would be like removing 1.3 million cars from the roads! Now that understanding is truly a light bulb moment! When we can see the impact of our collective actions and seek to connect to a holier path of caring for our world.

Parshat Toledot; Genesis 25:19 – 28:9, By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

With this weekly portion the focus of the Torah’s story shifts to the second generation of the patriarchs and matriarchs, namely the lifetimes of Isaac and Rebecca. In the opening verses of the parasha we learn of the infertility of Rebecca and Isaac. This already hearkens to the story of his parents, Abraham and Sarah. Abraham and Sarah could not conceive until the miracle of angel’s announcement of Isaac’s birth in his parents’ old age. But unlike Isaac’s father Abraham who questions God about the lack of heirs, it seems Isaac takes a different tact with God. Isaac prays to God on Rebecca’s behalf to conceive. The text tells us too that God was prayed to and indeed moved to remedy Rebecca’s and Isaac situation. God heard their prayer and they were blessed with children.

If only the challenges of infertility were as easy as this!

But more often than not—the challenges of infertility bring with it an emotional roller coaster that can play havoc on the lives of a couple or a single person who goes through this process. Conception can be regulated by timing, regime, and fertility drugs. Conception can be taken out of the context of intimate relationship by test tubes, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, sperm donors, egg donors and doctors’ offices. The hard realities of the technicalities and medical interventions necessary to conceive and have children for the infertile can eat away at the joys and hopes of a life blessed with children. The medical processes and procedures can actually add layers of stress that further inhibit the ability to conceive.

That is why Isaac and Rebecca’s response to their situation is so helpful even in the 21st century. They used the tools available to them in their day. That tool was prayer. Isaac’s spiritual side and ability to pray for his wife also speaks of the loving care a spouse can show to another in difficult times. That Isaac would pray to God on their behalf for children shows his deep faith and hope.

But surprisingly that tool is also available to us. Not that it will necessarily solve medical and/or physical issues but prayer can be of great support on the many spiritual issues that infertility raises.

Infertility can affect a couples’ bond with one another. It can eat away at the loving and holy fence that surround partners. Infertility in a single person who desires children and will use medical means to achieve the goal of offspring is even more trying when there is no one to share the journey and travails. That is why prayer is important. It can strengthen our resolve. Prayer can bring us comfort in difficult hours and provide a chance to open the channels of body, mind and soul to a different divine energy that perhaps when flowing through us allows us to prepare our body our sacred vessel and our home for the gift of a child. Prayer can help us alleviate some of the stresses that come with the processes needed to overcome infertility. Prayer can help us give voice to our worries, fears and concerns and prayer to God can help us reflect upon the values and teachings that we wish to impart to our offspring.

Prayer can build our faith in God and in the future.

This is not limited to those who seek to have children and whose infertility issues have thus far prevented that option.

Prayer can be a tool of great assistance in overcoming many different kinds of difficulties.

Isaac’s example this week, in Parshat Toledot provides us with guidance and hopefully, opens us up to the possibility that God too will hear our entreaty with the same swiftness and caring.

Parshat Chaye Sarah; Genesis 23:1- 25:18

This week’s parasha, Chaye Sarah deals in kindness. It shows this value from many different angles.

Our portion opens with the announcement of the death of Sarah. Abraham shows his wife, Sarah the ultimate in kindness by attending to her final needs and purchasing a burial site for her from the Hittites and mourning her death. This might seem like an expectation but upon reading our text closely. At the end of the last portion –Vayera, Abraham was in Beersheva. And this week Sarah dies in Hebron. Perhaps they weren’t together in the same locale, their relationship suffering from the act of near sacrifice of their son, Isaac.

But even if they were apart, Abraham didn’t leave this task to his son but made sure Sarah had a proper grave site in the Cave of Machpelah. When we accompany the dead to their final resting place, we engage in the ultimate act of lovingkindness, called a chesed shel Emet. When we help place earth in the gravesite we engage in this act that is never repaid but is filled with kindness and compassion and honor for the dead.

The theme of kindness and compassion continues in the portion as the story switches to finding a wife for Isaac. Abraham sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for his son. He comes upon Rebecca who is actually kin to Abraham through his brother Nahor. Eliezer observes Rebecca’s gentleness and kindness first hand when she not only offers him water to quench this strange traveler’s thirst but also waters the pack of camels that accompanied him on this long journey. She displays the same kind of generosity and hospitality that Abraham had shown to traveler’s that came to his tent. Rebecca’s kindness extends to Eliezer even offering him lodging. Of course these are signs’ to Eliezer that God has guided him on his journey and that he has found Abraham’s family who indeed would have suitable partners for Isaac. Rebecca’s kindnesses to Eliezer and to the animals indicate to Eliezer that she will indeed be not only a suitable match for Isaac but a person who can carry on these most important values of Abraham’s tribe.

In a world where cruelty and rudeness are the norm, where road rage is at every turn of the corner, this week’s portion and emphasis on basic human kindness and caring is a good reminder of how we ought to act in the world. But the pressures of everyday urban life seem to eat away at basic civility in social interactions. There are too many people sharing the same amount of space and so we think that we have to push and shove our way to make room in the world. Frustrations run high and caring runs low. As we study our parasha let us learn from Abraham and Rebecca that we might reinvigorate a commitment to kindness in all our interactions large and small.

We can bring the water of politeness, kindness and caring to a world thirsting for these basic and nurturing values.

Parshat Vayera; Exodus 6:2 –9:35, By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

How often do we listen to something but we never really hear it? We may be distracted by others. We may be doing something else when we ought to be listening. Certainly, those of us who are used to multi-tasking reading, talking on the phone and answering email and even driving at the same time know the truth: that we don’t really hear very well even though there is nothing wrong with our ears!

Sometimes when listening to music, if we concentrate we might hear things we never heard before. We might hear the violins of a concerto or pick out the countermelody played by the horn section in a way we never did before. We might hear the background vocals in a popular song that seems to get covered up by the pulsing guitar riffs.

So yes, there are times we listen to sounds or words or music but we don’t really hear them. And this is true of people too. We ask someone upon seeing them, “How are you?” and we expect the pat answer, “Fine. And you?” So we want to hear but we don’t want to listen!

In this week’s portion God tells Moses, “I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My Covenant.” (Ex. 6:5) This is a follow up to God’s acknowledgement in last week’s parasha at the Burning Bush to Moses, “ I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and have heeded their outcry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings.” (Ex. 3:7)

God has finally heard. God heard them in a new way. Finally, really comprehending their trouble. God has listened to the cries of their terror and suffering and it has reminded God of the covenant that God made with the Israelite’s ancestors.

And so our story of liberation begins. Yes, Moses goes to Pharaoh and demands the Israelite’s freedom. But the story begins with hearing. God’s hearing the children of Israel’s cries and responding.

This will be contrasted with the Pharaoh who will hear Moses but not listen to him nor listen to God. Even when confronted with plagues that will reign down upon the whole of Egypt, Pharaoh will not listen.

This should remind us of our own tasks to really listen to one another; to go beyond the distractions and really focus on the messages before us. In this way we can honor one another and ultimately listen for the voice of the Divine guiding our own lives today!