DOCSLIB.ORG

Vayeishev 5758 Volume V Number 12

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Vayeishev 5758 Volume V Number 12 Vayeitzei 5781 Volume XXVIII Number 11 Toras Aish Thoughts From Across the Torah Spectrum this one tiny people survived tragedies that would have RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS Z"L spelled the end of any other people: the destruction of Covenant & Conversation two Temples; the Babylonian and Roman conquests; hat is it that made Jacob -- not Abraham or the expulsions, persecutions, and pogroms of the Isaac or Moses -- the true father of the Jewish Middle Ages; the rise of antisemitism in nineteenth- Wpeople? We are called the "congregation of century Europe; and the Holocaust. It is truly Jacob," "the Children of Israel." Jacob/Israel is the man astonishing that after each cataclysm, Judaism whose name we bear. Yet Jacob did not begin the renewed itself, scaling new heights of achievement. Jewish journey; Abraham did. Jacob faced no trial like During the Babylonian exile, Judaism that of Isaac at the Binding. He did not lead the people deepened its engagement with the Torah. After the out of Egypt or bring them the Torah. To be sure, all his Roman destruction of Jerusalem it produced the great children stayed within the faith, unlike Abraham or literary monuments of the Oral Torah: Midrash, Isaac. But that simply pushes the question back one Mishnah, and Gemara. During the Middle Ages, it level. Why did he succeed where Abraham and Isaac produced masterpieces of law and Torah commentary, failed? poetry, and philosophy. A mere three years after the It seems that the answer lies in parshat Holocaust it proclaimed the State of Israel, the Jewish Vayetse and parshat Vayishlach. Jacob was the man return to history after the darkest night of exile. whose greatest visions came to him when he was alone When I first became Chief Rabbi I had to at night, far from home, fleeing from one danger to the undergo a medical examination. The doctor had me next. In parshat Vayetse, escaping from Esau, he stops walking at a very brisk pace on a treadmill. "What are and rests for the night with only stones to lie on, and he you testing?" I asked him. "How fast I can go, or how has an epiphany: "He had a dream in which he saw a long?" "Neither," he replied. "I will be observing how stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to long it takes for your pulse to return to normal, after you heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and come off the treadmill." That is when I discovered that descending on it.... When Jacob awoke from his sleep, health is measured by the power of recovery. That is he thought, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was true for everyone, but doubly so for leaders and for the not aware of it.' He was afraid and said, 'How awesome Jewish people, a nation of leaders. (This, I believe, is is this place! This is none other than the house of God; what the phrase "a kingdom of Priests" [Ex. 19:6] this is the gate of heaven.'" (Gen. 28:12-17) means). In parshat Vayishlach, fleeing from Laban and Leaders suffer crises. That is a given of terrified at the prospect of meeting Esau again, he leadership. When Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of wrestles alone at night with an unnamed stranger: Britain between 1957 and 1963, was asked what the "Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be most difficult aspect of his time in office was, he Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God famously replied, "Events, dear boy, events." Bad and with humans and have overcome.'...So Jacob things happen, and when they do, the leader must take called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God the strain so that others can sleep easily in their beds. face to face, and yet my life was spared.'" (Gen. 32:29- Leadership, 31) especially in matters of These are the decisive spiritual encounters of the spirit, is deeply Jacob's life, yet they happen in liminal space (the space stressful. Four figures between, neither a starting point nor a destination), at a in Tanach -- Moses, time when Jacob is at risk in both directions -- where he Elijah, Jeremiah, and comes from and where he is going to. Yet it is at these Jonah -- actually points of maximal vulnerability that he encounters God prayed to die rather and finds the courage to continue despite all the than continue. This hazards of the journey. was not only true in That is the strength Jacob bequeathed to the the distant past. Jewish people. What is remarkable is not merely that Abraham Lincoln 2 To sponsor Toras Aish please email [email protected] Toras Aish suffered deep bouts of depression. So did Winston RABBI SHLOMO RISKIN Churchill, who called it his "black dog." Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both attempted Shabbat Shalom suicide in adolescence and experienced depressive nd Jacob rose up early in the morning, and illness in adult life. The same was true of many great took the stone that he had placed under his creative artists, among them Michelangelo, Beethoven, "Ahead, and set it up as a monument, and and Van Gogh. poured oil on the top of it.” [Gen. 28:18] Our Biblical Is it greatness that leads to moments of portion, Vayetze, tells of Jacob’s journey into exile and, despair, or moments of despair that lead to greatness? not coincidentally, the first instance of a monument Do those who lead internalise the stresses and (matzeva) to God in Jewish history. Until this point, the tensions of their time? Or is it that those who are used great Biblical personalities have erected altars to stress in their emotional lives find release in leading (mizbahot, singular, mizbeah), to God: Noah when he exceptional lives? There is no convincing answer to this exited from the ark, Abraham when he first came to in the literature thus far. But Jacob was a more Israel, Isaac when he dedicated the city of Be’er Sheva, emotionally volatile individual than either Abraham, who and Jacob on two significant occasions. An altar is was often serene even in the face of great trials, or clearly a sacred place dedicated for ritual sacrifice. But Isaac, who was particularly withdrawn. Jacob feared; what is a monument? An understanding of this first Jacob loved; Jacob spent more of his time in exile than monument in Jewish history will help us understand the the other patriarchs. But Jacob endured and persisted. true significance of the Land of Israel to the Jewish Of all the figures in Genesis, he was the great survivor. People. The ability to survive and to recover is part of Fleeing the wrath of his brother, Esau, Jacob what it takes to be a leader. It is the willingness to live a leaves his Israeli parental home and sets out for his life of risks that makes such individuals different from mother’s familial home in Haran. His first stop, as the others. So said Theodore Roosevelt in one of the sun is setting, is in the fields outside Luz (Beit El) – the greatest speeches ever made on the subject: "It is not last site in Israel he will spend the night before he the critic who counts; not the man who points out how begins his exile. He dreams of a ladder standing the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds (mutzav) on land with its top reaching heavenwards, could have done them better. The credit belongs to the “and behold, angels of God are ascending and man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred descending on it” [ibid. v. 12]. God is standing (nitzav) by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who above the ladder, and promises Jacob that he will errs, who comes short again and again, because there return to Israel and that this land will belong to him and is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does his descendants eternally. Upon awakening, the actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great patriarch declares the place to be “the House of God enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a and the Gate of Heaven” [ibid. v. 17]. He tneh builds a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the monument (matzeva) from the stones he has used as a triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if pillow and pours oil over it. he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his Jacob’s experience leaves us in no doubt: a place shall never be with those cold and timid souls monument is a symbol of an eternal relationship. It is who neither know victory nor defeat." ("Citizenship in a the physical expression of a ladder linking Heaven and Republic", speech given at the Sorbonne, Paris, 23 earth, the Land of Israel and the Holy Temple of April 1910.) Jerusalem (House of God), which connects the Jacob endured the rivalry of Esau, the descendants of Jacob to the Divine forever. A resentment of Laban, the tension between his wives monument is a gateway to Heaven, a House of God on and children, the early death of his beloved Rachel, and earth. The Land of Israel, with its laws of tithes, the loss -- for twenty-two years -- of his favourite son, Sabbatical years and Jubilee, magnificently expresses Joseph. He said to Pharaoh, "Few and evil have been the link between humanity and the Almighty, and the the days of my life" (Gen.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • TEMPLE ISRAEL OP HOLLYWOOD Preparing for Jewish Burial and Mourning
    TRANSITIONS & CELEBRATIONS: Jewish Life Cycle Guides E EW A TEMPLE ISRAEL OP HOLLYWOOD Preparing for Jewish Burial and Mourning Written and compiled by Rabbi John L. Rosove Temple Israel of Hollywood INTRODUCTION The death of a loved one is so often a painful and confusing time for members of the family and dear friends. It is our hope that this “Guide” will assist you in planning the funeral as well as offer helpful information on our centuries-old Jewish burial and mourning practices. Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary (“Hillside”) has served the Southern California Jewish Community for more than seven decades and we encourage you to contact them if you need assistance at the time of need or pre-need (310.641.0707 - hillsidememorial.org). CONTENTS Pre-need preparations .................................................................................. 3 Selecting a grave, arranging for family plots ................................................. 3 Contacting clergy .......................................................................................... 3 Contacting the Mortuary and arranging for the funeral ................................. 3 Preparation of the body ................................................................................ 3 Someone to watch over the body .................................................................. 3 The timing of the funeral ............................................................................... 3 The casket and dressing the deceased for burial ..........................................
    [Show full text]
  • Disseminating Jewish Literatures
    Disseminating Jewish Literatures Disseminating Jewish Literatures Knowledge, Research, Curricula Edited by Susanne Zepp, Ruth Fine, Natasha Gordinsky, Kader Konuk, Claudia Olk and Galili Shahar ISBN 978-3-11-061899-0 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-061900-3 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-061907-2 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. For details go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020908027 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Susanne Zepp, Ruth Fine, Natasha Gordinsky, Kader Konuk, Claudia Olk and Galili Shahar published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: FinnBrandt / E+ / Getty Images Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Introduction This volume is dedicated to the rich multilingualism and polyphonyofJewish literarywriting.Itoffers an interdisciplinary array of suggestions on issues of re- search and teachingrelated to further promotingthe integration of modern Jew- ish literary studies into the different philological disciplines. It collects the pro- ceedings of the Gentner Symposium fundedbythe Minerva Foundation, which was held at the Freie Universität Berlin from June 27 to 29,2018. During this three-daysymposium at the Max Planck Society’sHarnack House, more than fifty scholars from awide rangeofdisciplines in modern philologydiscussed the integration of Jewish literature into research and teaching. Among the partic- ipants werespecialists in American, Arabic, German, Hebrew,Hungarian, Ro- mance and LatinAmerican,Slavic, Turkish, and Yiddish literature as well as comparative literature.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jewish Symbols
    UNIWERSYTET ZIELONOGÓRSKI Przegląd Narodowościowy – Review of Nationalities • Jews nr 6/2016 DOI: 10.1515/pn-2016-0014 ISSN 2084-848X (print) ISSN 2543-9391 (on-line) Krzysztof Łoziński✴ The Jewish symbols KEYWORDS: Jew, Judaism, symbol, archetype, Judaica SŁOWA KLUCZOWE: Żyd, judaizm, symbol, archetyp, judaica In every culture, people have always used symbols giving them sense and assigning them a specific meaning . Over the centuries, with the passage of time religious sym- bols have mingled with secular symbols . The charisms of Judaism have tuallymu in- termingled with the Christian ones taking on a new tribal or national form with in- fluences of their own culture . The aim of this article is to analyze and determine the influence of Judaic symbols on religious and social life of the Jews . The article indicates the sources of symbols from biblical times to the present day . I analyzed the symbols derived from Jewish culture, and those borrowed within the framework of acculturation with other communities as well . By showing examples of the interpenetration of cultures, the text is anattempt to present a wide range of meanings symbols: from the utilitarian, through religious, to national ones . It also describes their impact on the religious sphere, the influence on nurturing and preserving the national-ethnic traditions, sense of identity and state consciousness . The political value of a symbol as one of the elements of the genesisof the creation of the state of Israel is also discussed . “We live in a world of symbols, a world of symbols lives in us “ Jean Chevalier The world is full of symbols .
    [Show full text]
  • Genesis 31:3-32:2 Chavurah Shalom Sat 4/30/16 Jacob Is the First Person
    Genesis 31:3-32:2 Chavurah Shalom Sat 4/30/16 Jacob is the first person to whom God can say, "Return to the Land of your fa- thers!" For the Land was first promised to Avraham, and then to Isaac, and now to Jacob. Jacob has heard the discontent of Laban's sons, and seen the change in La- ban's face, but more importantly, He has heard from God! V. 3 records this as a direct command from God to Jacob, "ADONAI said to Ja- cob." In other words, whether in the dream that follows, or in a vision, or an audi- ,שׁוּב ,ble voice, Jacob heard ADONAI speak. Here is the simple command to shuv return, and "I will be with you." This is a reminder of the promise of God in Gene- sis 28:15, when he was fleeing Esau. While many make a case for the same kind flight here as there, we have a direct command of God, and Jacob's immediate obe- dience, whatever the other factors may have been. We will see in the recounting of his dream, and the Angel of God, that ADONAI has proven His Word true to Ja- cob, abiding with him to protect and to provide even while in a foreign land. Jacob does not travel alone! The Chumash however, in seeking to tie the promise of the Presence of God to the Land, and to being in fellowship only with other holy people, suggested (Rashi) that His presence would not rest upon Jacob as long as he remained in connection to an unclean Laban.
    [Show full text]
  • Suggested Order of Prayers for an Unveiling We Shall Remember Them
    We Shall Remember Them... Suggested Order of Prayers for an Unveiling 60 Kendrick St.. Suite 100—Needham, MA 02494 617-244-6509—www.jcam.org Suggested Order of Prayers for an Unveiling We Remember Them... By Rabbis Sylvan Kames & Jack Riemer 1. Psalm 23 2. The covering is removed. At the rising of the sun and at its going down, 3. We now fondly dedicate this monument to the blessed We remember them. memory of realizing At the blowing of the wind and the chill of winter, that his/her remains lie not only in the plot of ground but in eve- We remember them. ry heart his/her life did touch. G-d, we are grateful for the years At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring, we were privileged to share with him/her, years when he/she We remember them. brought us many pleasures and taught us so very much by ex- At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer, ample. And even though he/she has left our midst, we know he/ We remember them. she will endure as a blessing forever. At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn, 4. Kel Moleh Rachamin is read. We remember them. 5. Kaddish is recited. At the beginning of the year and when it ends, We remember them. 6. The family can add any prayers, reflections, poems, etc. that As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us, it chooses.
    [Show full text]
  • Sarah's Death and the Cave at Machpelah
    Jewish Life, Death, and Transition Series Living and Dying in Ancient Times Death, Burial, and Mourning in Biblical Tradition Simcha Paull Raphael, Ph.D. Boulder, Colorado 2015 “The old shall be renewed, and the new shall be made holy.” — Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook Copyright © 2015 Simcha Paull Raphael Published in conjunction with the Da’at Institute for Death Awareness, Advocacy and Training. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, except for brief passages, without permission in writing from the author or publisher: Albion-Andalus, Inc. P. O. Box 19852 Boulder, CO 80308 www.albionandalus.com Design and layout by Albion-Andalus Books Cover design by Daryl McCool, D.A.M. Cool Graphics Cover image: “Rachel’s Tomb,” wood engraving by John Douglass Woodward, 1881-1884. ISBN-13: 978-0692495568 (Albion-Andalus Books) ISBN-10: 0692495568 This book is dedicated to Dr. Jean Ouellette Professor, Études Juives Université de Montréal – my frst professor of Biblical Studies at Sir George Williams University Montreal, Canada who opened my mind to the world of Biblical scholarship and study Images and Motifs of Burial Sarah’s Death and the Cave at Machpelah Genesis Chapter 23 presents the frst and most elaborate description of the purchase of a burial plot found in the Hebrew Bible. The chapter begins with news of Sarah’s death in “Kiriath-Arba; which is Hebron in the land of Canaan” at 127 years of age. The text then tells us that “Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.” (Gen.
    [Show full text]
  • Holy Ground ('Admat Qodesh): a Counter-Locative Claim on Sacred
    Holy Ground (’Admat Qodesh): A Counter-Locative Claim on Sacred Space at the Burning Bush* Rachel Adelman Hebrew College Boston, MA The site of revelation at the burning bush is called the Mountain of God (Exod 3:1). Yet this “elementary hierophany—the manifestation of the sacred in some ordinary object,” to borrow Eliade’s language, does not mark a permanent conduit between Heaven and Earth as sacred center or axis mundi.1 Rather, the place is merely sacred for a moment foreshadowing the giving of the Law at Sinai at that same locus later in Exodus. It then disappears altogether except in the collective memory of the people, never to become a permanent holy site or destination for pilgrimage. In fact, Bible scholars contest its precise geographical location.2 Is it the site of Jebel Musa, where the Christian __________ *Originally presented at a panel of the Theology of Hebrew Scripture at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting on San Diego, CA in Nov. 2019. The theme of the session was Theological Perspectives on Sacred Space in the Hebrew Bible. A shorter version of this article appeared as “The Burning Bush: Why Must Moses Remove His Shoes?” TheTorah.com (2021). https://thetorah.com/article/the-burning-bush-why-must- moses-remove-his-shoes. 16 Lexington Theological Quarterly monastery stands today in the Sinai Peninsula,3 or is it closer to Midianite territory in the Gulf of Aqaba, perhaps Jebel al Lawz, where Moses herded his father-in-law’s flocks?4 In contrast to the altar at Mount Moriah upon which Abraham bound Isaac, marking the Temple Mount (Gen 22:2, 14; 2 Chron 3:1), and the stone monument marking Jacob’s night vision at Bethel (Gen 28:17), which would become the site of Jeroboam’s Temple (2 Kgs 12:32-33), Sinai as a locus of theophany is ephemeral.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jewish Cemeteries in Vienna
    ‘The Place of my Fathers’ Sepulchres’: The Jewish Cemeteries in Vienna Image removed from electronic version for copyright reasons – TC Tim Corbett ‘The Place of my Fathers’ Sepulchres’: The Jewish Cemeteries in Vienna A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of PhD by Tim Corbett, B.A. (Hons), M.A. (University of Lancaster) University of Lancaster, June 2015 Declaration I certify that this thesis is my own work, and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. Frontispiece: (from left to right and top to bottom) untitled, former exhibition of the Jewish Museum in Vienna (before 1938), JMW, 2628; matzevah of Francisca Edle von Hönigsberg (1769-1795), Währing, 4-385; Grabsteine beim Hofburgbau, CAHJP, AU-196; Detail from Wiener Zentralfriedhof, 1953, ÖNB Kartensammlung, KI 104092; matzevah of Joachim Stiasny (1826-1908), Tor I, 52A-12-20; Fotosammlung ’the city, the place of my fathers) הָעִ יר בֵּ ית-קִ בְ רוֹת אֲ בֹתַ י ;Seegasse, JMW, 3217 sepulchres), Nehemiah 2:3; matzevah of Rabbi Shimshon (Samson) Wertheim(er) (1658-1724), Seegasse; matzevah of Karl Kohn (1889-1914), Tor I, 76B-1-1; matzevot at Tor I, Section 5B; matzevah of Chief Rabbi Adolf Jellinek (1820-1893), Tor I, 5B-1-2; matzevah of Marcus Engel (1825-1909) and family, Tor I, 7-1-11; matzevah of Emanuel Weber (1851-1906), Tor I, 51-17-69; Wien 11, Zentralfriedhof 4. Tor, ÖNB Bildarchiv, HW 58, 8. ii Acknowledgements This thesis is the culmination of five years of postgraduate work, and five years of my life that have taken me literally around the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Art and Memory of the Holocaust Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Arte Y Memoria Del Holocausto
    | 255 analecta polit. | Vol. 8 | No. 15 | PP. 255-277 | julio-diciembre | 2018 | ISSN: 2027-7458 | Medellín- Colombia http://dx.doi.org/10.18566/apolit.v8n15.a05 Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Art and Memory of the Holocaust Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Arte y memoria del Holocausto Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Arte e memória do Holocausto Cómo citar este artículo en APA: Hudzik, J. (2018). Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Art and Memory, of the Holocaust. Analecta Política, 8(15), 259-281. JAN P. HUDZIK Professor of philosophy, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University Recibido: 15 de marzo de 2018 in Lublin (Poland), Faculty of Political Science. E-mail address: Aprobado: [email protected] /código orcid.org/0000-0002-4806- 8 de junio de 2018 7840. Postal address: Pl. Litewski 3, 20-080 Lublin - Poland. Atribución – Sin Derivar – No comercial: El material creado por usted puede ser distribuido, copiado y exhibido por terceros si se muestra en los créditos. No se puede obtener ningún beneficio comercial. No se pueden realizar obras derivadas 256 | Jan P. Hudzik Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: Art and Memory of the Holocaust Abstract The article discusses the issues of art and memory after the Holocaust in the artistic works of Tomasz Pietrasiewicz: a theatre director and a culture animator. The focus is on the following two questions. The first one is about the context in which his “theatre of memory” is functioning, that is also about the cultural factors shaping the memory of people living in the realities of Lublin at the turn of the 20th/21st c. The second one pertains to the art and the artist’s condition: what language and means of expression does he use, and why does he do it at all, why has he decided to take responsibility for the city’s tragic history? The text consists of six parts.
    [Show full text]
  • Wein Online Shabbat Forshpeis
    Vayeitzei 5768 Volume XV Number 10 Toras Aish Thoughts From Across the Torah Spectrum Self-defense and protection of one's own RABBI BEREL WEIN interests is part of the Torah value system. But Wein Online pleasantness, sensitivity, faith in G-d's justice and ashi points out for us in the beginning of this promises, and a willingness to tolerate and week's parsha (really at the conclusion of last accommodate others (even unpleasant others) are also Rweek's parsha) that Yaakov stopped at the study a part of the value system of the Torah. house of Shem and Ever for fourteen years on his flight Yaakov enters the school of Shem and Ever to from Eisav to his uncle's house in Aram. This seems to absorb the Torah value system that will allow him to be a strange stopover at first glance. survive Lavan and not to fall spiritually and become How will the instruction that he received in the Lavan in the form of Yaakov. One of the most difficult school established by Shem and Ever contribute to his tasks that faces Jewish society today is to remain a survival and success at the house of Lavan, the master kingdom of priests and a holy people even when conniver and duplicitous character? The question is struggling with Lavan, Yishmael and Eisav for our very phrased in a more current if blunter fashion in the existence. Our schools have to teach Torah values and Talmud itself - of what value are the Torah students to not be satisfied merely with knowledge, grades and test society at large? scores.
    [Show full text]
  • HABAYIT J-^An
    HABAYIT j-^an Published by Congregation Beth Hillel & Beth Israel, Inc. Tishri-Cheshvan-Kislev 5751 Number 326 October-November-December 1990 Population Control Not in the "popular" sense, which is repugnant to our Jewish way of thinking and runs counter to the will of the Creator for all mankind. "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" said He to Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28). "He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited," warns Isaiah (45:18). In populating the earth, man reaches out to partnership with G'd in creation (singularly expressed in the English word procreatel). In sheer numbers, the world's population has fluctuated wildly through the millenia. The thousands in antiquity became millions, and with conquests of diseases and lengthening of life expectancy, millions are currently swell¬ ing our ranks into explosions of multi-billions. Our confidence in man's eventual ability to harness the bounty of nature and to provide for them all, is firmly rooted in our faith in the Creator Who is the benevolent Provider. A picture of staggering, dizzying dimension is offered by the High Holiday Machzor: •piD 'inD ivny 'Ka VDI "all the world's inhabitants pass before You like a flock of sheep." G'd's judging eye falls on them all, the billions inhabiting the globe. He sees them during the solemn Days of Awe as were they passing by, single file, like sheep under the mustering rod of the shepherd. Father and King, He is in control, of the teem¬ ing masses as well as each person individually.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Ritual, Reality and Response at the End of Life a Guide to Caring for Jewish Patients and Their Families
    Jewish Ritual, Reality and Response at the End of Life A Guide to Caring for Jewish Patients and Their Families Prepared by Rabbi Mark A. Popovsky For the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life May 2007 Production of this guide was supported, in part, by the generosity of the American Hospice Foundation. Learn more online at www.americanhospice.org. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rabbi Mark A. Popovsky graduated from Columbia University and was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also received a Master’s Degree in Talmud and Rabbinics. He currently serves as the Coordinator of Jewish Chaplaincy at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. He teaches medical students at the Weill Cornell Medical College and has published several articles addressing emerging topics in the fields of pastoral care and medical ethics. ABOUT THE INSTITUTE The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life, based at Duke Divinity School, works to improve the care of seriously ill patients and their families by creating knowledge and rediscovering old wisdoms about the spiritual dimension of end-of-life care. For more information about ICEOL, visit us online at www.iceol.duke.edu. Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life Duke University Divinity School 2 Chapel Drive Room 0020 Westbrook Building Durham, North Carolina 27708 (919) 660-3553 www.iceol.duke.edu ISBN 978-0-9796790-0-1 © Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life Dear Reader, Thank you for your interest in Jewish Ritual, Reality and Response at the End of Life: A Guide to Caring for Jewish Patients and Their Families.
    [Show full text]