Final Post

This is my final post of the year, so I thought that it wouldn't really be right to only write about one thing. Instead, I'll write about a couple of things that are on my mind right now, as a person exiting this class.
First of all, I would like to acknowledge how lovely Sade Cooper's saludatorian speech was. She accurately (and beautifully) described the dilemma that we all had this year when we were faced with dealing with the fact that our forefathers aren't as perfect as we to idealize them when we were young. I have to say, we have uncovered many things this year that I was totally unaware of the first time around learning it. I feel like I see Bereshit in a totally different light now- and all of the characters in it. I believe that I have come to both understand and appreciate Avraham and Yaakov on whole other levels that I never would have thought of before. I think it's important to recognize that none of them are perfect and sometimes they do bad things, and then there are times that they do really amazing things. Like Sade said, the Torah isn't just black and white-there are also shades of grey.

Another thing I thought was worth noting is the different reactions that the Imahot had to not being able to have children. First of all, Leah was successfully able to have children- why is this? Does it mean that she wasn't truly one of our Imahot, or was it so because she was the least-loved and Hashem wanted her to be more appreciated? Anyways, back to the topic. When Sarah couldn't have children, after a while, she started taking active steps. She offered Hagar, her maidservant, to Avraham so that they would have kids that way. Sarah was always actively participating and being active and communicating with Avraham about what was going to happen. Rivkah's approach could not have been more different. She had no communication with Yitzchak whatsoever. He davened for her to have a child and it doesn't say anything about what she did. While she was pregnant she davened to Hashem, but we don't know if she actually davened to have kids and it definitely does not seem as if she communicated with Yaakov about this matter. Rachel is the last of the imahot to be an akarah. Rachel, like Sarah, was active and constantly davened for children.
What is with this pattern of the imahot not being able to have children? Is it a test? Why do they need to be tested? So sad for them.

The year is over. I would like to conclude by saying what my favorite thing to learn was. i think that perhaps (but it's pretty close) my favorite topic this year has been the first about 11 perakim of Bereshit. There's a lot of triply stuff in there, but I loved developing the theme and discussing Hashem's original plan for the world and man's role in the world. I love the concept of tzelem elokim and the hierarchy and I love how it is incorporated so early on in the Torah.

HAPPY SUMMER!

Second Semester

Well, the year is over, and as I had summarized what I liked about my psychology class, I thought would write about what I liked and raise some questions I might think of while I do.

This semester, we learned a lot about growth. First we learned about the development of the world: G-d created a hierarchy that people were supposed to follow, and it soon became clear that the people would not be able to keep to the hierarchy and develop morals and ethics on their own- G-d would have to show them. Eventually, G-d recognized that His plan for ethical and moral people would have to go from a collective goal to an individual goal.

This leads us directly into Avraham, about whom we learn about growth. Avraham was an inconoclast- although he grew up in a society that was polytheistic and did not have many morals, Avraham became a moral and ethical man who believed in G-d. He spread G-d's name (in direct contrast to the Dor Haflaga, who only wanted to spread their names) and converted people to ethical lifestyles. Although he faced many challenges, he overcame them and held fast in his belief in G-d. He overcame the challenges to zera (Lot, Eliezer, Yishmael, oh my) and the challenges to eretz (the king's offered him land and he passed on it). Avraham was willing to sacrifice his ideas of morals and ethics because in the end, the only thing that mattered for Avraham was that he do what G-d commanded. He passed the ultimate challenge- the challenge of the akeida, thereby becoming the paradigm of a great religious and spiritual leader. I quite enjoyed learning about Avraham because we could learn things from him to help guide our own lives, and it was great character development and intrigue.

The next growth I liked learning about was Yaakov. He went from being a quite little boy who did nothing, to a boy who obeyed his mother, to a youngster who ran away and worked for his uncle, to a man who voiced his opinion, to a father who led his family away, and to a political leader who would stand up to Lavan and Esau. The story that we learn about the birthright and Yaakov and Esau is fascinating; is that when the brothers began to resent one another? Had it been before that? Or was it only after Yaakov took the blessing that Esau wanted (the political blessing) that Esau hated Yaakov. Again, from Yaakov we can learn that we can become leaders and that people can go from being timid to being uncompromising.

I also thought that throughout the year, the ideas of morals and ethics has been an important one. We talked so often about it that it is hard to not apply the things we talked about to our own lives, and begin to look for themes of ethical monotheism in every story that we read (was Yaakov moral when he tricked his father? Was it right for Yitzchak to favor Esau? Why wasn't Esau allowed to be nidcheh? Why did Yitzchak pit his sons against each other in his blessing?)

This past semester was full of insightful comparisons, people who developed tremendously throughout their lives, and a great way to relearn the stories that had once seemed so simple and somewhat naive and nonsensical in first grade. This is because not only did we learn it as high schoolers with fresh perspectives and analytical minds, but because we actually read the pasukim and found out the whole story ;)

It was a truly lovely year.

פרק כט

At the beginning of פרק כט, Yaakov leaves as a scared individual. He’s running away with nothing. To our knowledge, G-d’s never spoken to him. When he's in a place it is described as “B’makom” - which could mean that this is a special place where the Beit Hamikdash will be, but it could also just mean a simple place. He gathers the rocks and goes to sleep on them and has a dream the ladder is rooted in the ground reaching to the sky and the angels of Hashem are going up and down it. Hashem appears to him and says, “I am the G-d of your father Avraham, and the land that you’re sleeping on will be given to you (aretz), and I won’t leave you as long as you do everything I tell you.” 

This land represents Brit Avraham that’s going to be given to him. They’ll be numerous and blessed. But he doesn't get the leadership bracha - Hashem doesn’t say kings will come from you. Yaakov didn’t receive this because he wasn’t ready yet to be a leader. 

Interpretation of the dream: This must be the house of G-d and gateway to heaven. He makes the oath with G-d, that if he gets the basic necessities, he will make a house of G-d, take him as G-d and give him ma’aser of everything that he gets.
What does a Mizbayach do? Avraham built it to attract other followers. Yaakov built a מצבה (monument), it was for G-d in order for Yaakov to have a rendezvous with Him and have a religious experience. This is where he will build a בית אלוקים.
Promise that he made: two ways to look at it - negative and positive. The negative would be if he meant if and then – which makes it seem like he doubts what Hashem is saying. The positive would be him saying that he has belief and faith in Hashem, and when he comes back and Hashem is with him he’s gonna be better than ever and build a בית אלוקים.

Rachel and the Idols

We learned in class that there could be two possiblities why Rachel took the Idols from her father Lavan after Yaakov decided to leave Lavan.

The first possibility is because she was goodhearted, and did not want her father to worship idols, therefore taking them away from him.

The second possibility was that she was still attached to those idols and wanted to take a piece of home to the new place they were going to.

I personally agree with the second posiibility to more for several reasons: Firstly, why would Rachel take the idols with her, why didnt she simply smash the idols Avraham style, since taking them would seem like such a drag and also a danger. She must have also known that Yaakov would have not been happy to see the idols so she hid them under the sattle of the camel. Rachel and Yaakov seemed to have a good relationship, therefore I think that she knew that Yaakov was true to God and not any other idols. I think Rachel simply wanted to take the idols for her own reasons and attachements. It seems to make more sense since we see from the beginning that she was attached to her father, Lavan and must have learned a lot from him. ( When she encounters Yaakov and says that she needs to go tell her father.)

Hello my dear fellow classmates,
I am very sad since this may be ,y last post since the end of the year is nearing quickly!
Therefore, i decided to discuss a topic that includes characters from the beginning of the semester in Sefer Bereshit. Since we are all women. i decided to focus on Sarah, Rivkah and Rachel. We learned a tremendous amount about these individuals and their relationships to their husbands. However, i would like to focus on a topic that has always troubled me ever since i was a child. We learned in elementary school that god made these three women barren. when youre a child you dont realize what an incredible ache it is for a woman who craves to have a child so much to be denied of such a wish. When youre little you just always assume that it turned out fine in the end anyway since they prayed to god and got what they wanted(we seem to forget that Sarah had to wait like eighty years for her wish to come true.) In Sarah and Rachel's case it gets even worse. They are forced to allow their husbands to be with other women( Hagar, Leah Bilha, Puah,) since they were unable to have children of their own. That must have been one of the most terrible and heartbreaking experiences to have to share your husband with another woman who could do what you cant. Although many people may say it was a challenge taht these women had to overcome, i would like to know why that challenge was necessary? Why did all three of them get that same challenge? If it wasnt a challenge was it a punishment? If so, why wrere they being punished? Why did again all three reaceive the same terrible fate?

Lavan

When we were younger, we learn about all the villains in the Torah. Everything is very black and white; here is the good guy and here is the bad guy. Then as we get older we begin to learn that not everything is so black and white, like we discussed with Esav. From the text it seems like he really did not do anything wrong; he really was just not as spiritual as Yaakov and would rather spend his days frolicking in the fields and hunting. But Lavan seems to be a different story. Although we have not really delved into this part of Yaakov's story yet, from reading over it in our Chavruta work, it seems like Lavan really is portrayed as a villain in the straight text. He tricks Yaakov, which may be Midah Kineged Midah for Yaakov, who tricked his own father and took advantage of his brother. So Lavan tricks his new (double) son-in-law then spends quite a bit of time chasing after him and trying to take his animals and his family. What is Lavan's motive? Is he presented as a villain which in itself is an obstacle or a challenge for Yaakov? Or does he have a bigger motive and purpose in this entire story?

The Ladder as a Metaphor

"He had a dream; a ladder was set on the ground and its top reached the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing beside him [or 'upon it']" (Gen. 28:12-13). As we all know, Yaakov's dream leaves us with a lot of questions and confusion. As I was reading these pessukim, I found it weird that the Torah seemed to emphasize that the ladder was set in the ground and reached the sky. Now, I could be reading way too much into this and perhaps this isn't even a legitimate question, but I came up with an interesting answer!

As we all know Yaakov was naturally a spiritual person. He connected with G-d and, according to the midrash, was very learned. My thought is that maybe the ladder was trying to show him his place in the world. He is living on earth, not in the heavens. Maybe this is a message for Yaakov to 'stick to the ground' and become a more worldly person, like a leader. This is why Yaakov builds the Beit Elokim because, as Aviva's blog says, he was becoming a leader and spreading the word of G-d. No matter how spiritual Yaakov may be, he needs to remember that he is still living on the earth not in the heavens. If this interpretation makes any sense, than I think the ladder serves as an important symbol for Yaakov and also is tied to Yaakov's turning point where he starts to become a leader. 

P.S.- I'm not sure why this has a weird background. I can't figure out how to fix it!