by katie@betalef.org | Oct 20, 2021 | Torah Reflections
VaYera: Genesis 18:1 – 22:24 “Beyond our Ego’s Idea of Justice” In his life’s storyline, Abraham did not always rise to the occasion of his ethical challenges. Yet this aspect of his story is worthy of praise: his standing up to...
by katie@betalef.org | Oct 12, 2021 | Torah Reflections
Lech lecha: Genesis 12:1 – 17:27 “Heading Home” Lech Lecha marks the beginning of the Patriarchal story in the Book of Genesis. We have traveled through the confusion of Creation and the Flood, and now we are about to embark on our spiritual...
by katie@betalef.org | Oct 6, 2021 | Torah Reflections
Noah: Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 “A World Filled with Violence” Our, then, 10-year-old daughter, Amalya came home one day from the Jewish day-school she attended, with an assignment: to write a short essay about the first verses of Noah, this week’s...
by katie@betalef.org | Sep 29, 2021 | Torah Reflections
Bereishit: Genesis 1:1 – 6:8 “The Kabbalah of Creation” I love the esoteric interpretation by Nachmanides—Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, born in Spain (1194-1270)—on the first verse of Genesis: In a beginning God created the heaven and the earth....
by katie@betalef.org | Sep 15, 2021 | Torah Reflections
Ha’azinu: Deuteronomy 32:1 – 52 “The Chutzpah of the Separate Self” Chutzpah. Whether Jewish or not, most everyone knows this Hebrew/Yiddish word. The dictionary defines it as “unmitigated effrontery or impudence, gall, nerve, courage...
by katie@betalef.org | Sep 10, 2021 | Torah Reflections
VaYelech: Deuteronomy 31:1 – 30 “Giving up the Future” Moses went and spoke these things to all Israel. He said to them: “I am, today, a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to go forth and enter. And the Eternal has said to me,...
