Kol Ramah

Parsha Talk-with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Bo [Exodus 10:1–13:16] is the third parashah in Sefer Sh’mot [the Book of Exodus]. In it is recounted the last 3 plagues and the preparations for and celebration of Pesach Mitzrayim, the observance of Passover in Egypt, which will differ from Pesach Le-dorot, the Passover commemorated by future generations. We have the long chapter 12, one of my favorites in the Torah, and the passage at the end [13:1–16], divided by the rabbis into two [13:1-10 and 11–16], which together with the 1st 2 paragraphs of the Sh’ma [Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13–21 will make up the texts of the t’fillin. We also have the prompts for two of the sons of the Passover Haggadah. It is particularly rich, as I hope you will find our conversation. Comments and criticisms are welcome! Shabbat Shalom!!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-era [Exodus 6:2–9:35] begins with verses [6{2–3] that feature prominently in modern biblical criticism. “Elohim spoke to Moshe, and He said to him, I am YHVH. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob by El Shaddai, and my name YHVH I did not make known to them”. At the very least, God did not appear to the patriarchs in the same way that He appeared to Moshe. For those critically minded, these verses indicate a change in worship. The verses are followed by 3 verses [6–8] which feature in the determination of cups of wine at the Seder. But the parashah is perhaps best known for the 1st seven plagues. Our conversation meandered, sometimes touching on verses, sometimes on comparisons between God and Pharaoh, Moshe and Pharaoh, Moshe and Aaron, sometimes on other topics. We hope you find it rewarding. Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Sh’mot [Exodus 1:1–6:1] begins a new Book of the Torah, the Book of Exodus. As Eliot mentions, we move very quickly, in just a few verses, from ish [man] to bayyit [house] to shevet [tribe], to am [nation]. In the opening verses, the family story that concluded the Book of Genesis becomes the national story that will lead, eventually, to the Jewish people. Since we were recording just after the 50th yahrtzeit [anniversary of death] of the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel this past Wednesday [18 Tevet, this year 1/11/23], our conversation is peppered with references to Heschel’s teachings. We hope some of you will share yours with us! Shabbat Shalom!!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yechi [Genesis 47:28–50:26] concludes Book of Genesis. Among the other things that come to an end are the lives of Jacob and then of Joseph. It is, perhaps, a dark ending. A book that begins with the Creation of the world ends with Joseph embalmed and placed in an aron, a box, waiting until his descendants will take his bones up out of Egypt with them when they are redeemed by the mighty hand and outstretched arm of God. The parashah gives us the opportunity to evaluate the life of Joseph, and of Jacob. And, as is the case, it gives us the opportunity to say a few words about the Book of Genesis, and its context within the Torah. Comments and criticisms are welcome at parshatalk@gmail.com. Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yiggash [Genesis 44:18-47:27] is the third installment of the Joseph saga. Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers and arrangments are made for the entire family to come to Egypt, to take up residence in the Land of Goshen, where they can live apart from the Egyptians but still benefit from Joseph’s position in that society. There are a number of odd comments made by both Jacob and Joseph about the other; we tend to forget that 22 years has elapsed, and neither side has made, apparently, any attempt to find out about the other. And there is the curious genealogy of Jacob’s family who went down to Egypt. This provided us with more than enough to talk about! This is our last Parashat Talk for 2022! We look forward to 2023 as another year of conversation about the weekly Torah Reading Shabbat Shalom!!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Miqqetz [Genesis 41:1-44:17] is the second of the four parashiyot which tell the story of Joseph. It begins in the court of Pharaoh, with the third set of 2 dreams. The butler now remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh there is a Hebrew slave who can interpret his dreams. This sets in motion a chain of events which leads to Joseph’s release from prison, the correct interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams, and the appointment of Joseph as second in command to Pharaoh. In the meanwhile, Jacob’s family is in need of more food, so the sons get Jacob to acquiesce to sending Benjamin. As the story unfolds, Benjamin is accused of stealing Joseph’s goblet. They return to Joseph, where Judah makes an impassioned plea on behalf of Benjamin to return to Jacob, and for Joseph to take Judah in his stead. As the rabbis have programmed the cycle of Torah readings, we are meant to brood upon this sad state of events for the week. While on on

Earlier this month we lost a dear friend and unique talent, Pete Sokolow. Enjoy this 2011 Radio Klezkamp interview with Mitch Mernick. Recorded at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa, Kerhokson NY.

Parsha Talk Vayeshev with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yeshev [Genesis 37-40] is the beginning of the Joseph story, the longest extended narrative in the Book of Genesis. So even though, properly speaking, Joseph is not a patriarch, he is not a recipient of the covenant with its twofold promise of land and numerous descendants conveyed directly by God, he is the subject of the longest story in the Book. Chapter 37 introduces us to an adolescent or young adult Joseph, who at 17 is the favorite of his father, Jacob, the recipient of what has come to be known as the Coat of Many Colors, and a noted dreamer and interpreter of dreams, all of which will conspire, together with his brothers, to land him in Egypt as a slave. Chapter 38 is an interlude of sorts, the story of Judah and Tamar, whereby Tamar is widowed twice, by Judah’s two oldest sons, and then will become, through Judah, the ancestress of King David. Chapter 39 resumes the Joseph story, this time in Egypt,

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yishlach [Genesis 32:4-36:43] is, as the French might say, an embarrassment of riches. There are Jacob’s plans for seeing his brother again after 20 years, the mysterious encounter with the malakh, often translated as angel, which will acquire for Jacob a new name and a physical disability which will everafter affect the way his descendants eat, the meeting with Esau, the rape of Dinah, the putting away of the idols at Beit El, and the detailed genealogy of Esau, inclusing the list of 12 successive kings, which exposes perhaps as well as any Torah text, the limitations of Mosaic authorship of the Torah. Along the way is the the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, the birth of Benjamin and the death of Rachel [which occasions its own name change], and the death of Isaac. And even this list is incomplete! As befitting such a rich parashah, our conversation was free-wheeling, skipping from topic to topic, seamlessly we hop

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yetze [Genesis 28:10–32:3] has long been my (BC) favorite, since it was the one to which I was called up to the Torah as Bar Mitzvah many years ago. As it turns out, it is also the Bat Mitzvah parashah of my wife, Carol, though not quite so many years ago. In our discussion this week we did go much beyond the opening verses, the notice that Jacob left Beersheva and went to Haran, and the encounter at Beit El, formerly known as Luz. Perhaps we gained in depth what we sacrificed in breadth. In any event, it was a lot of fun to do! Shabbat Shalom!!

Parsha Talk; with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Toldot [Genesis 25:19-28:9] begins with a flurry of activity, with 60 years summarized in 8 verses: there is a birth notice of Isaac, the marriage of Isaac at 40, the barrenness of Rebekah for 20 years, the entreaty on her behalf by Isaac, the difficult pregnancy, the consulation with the oracle, and finally the birth of Esau and Jacob, complete with a physical description which will give each of the twins his name. And then the parashah slows down with a story about the selling of the birthright, a series of episodes in the life of Isaac, a notice about Esau’s two wives and then an extendeded narrative about the stealing of the blessing. At the end, Jacob will flee for his life to the ancestral homeland back east, and Esau will marry a descendant of Ishmael. All in all, it is quite packed with material to talk about, which, of course, is what we do! We hope you enjoy this early edition of Parashah Talk, made necessary

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Chayyai Sarah [Genesis 23:1-25:18] opens with a summary of the years of Sarah’s life: These were the lives of Sarah, a hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the lives of Sarah. It is interesting that in Hebrew “life” is a plural noun, whereas in English it is singular. Perhaps related to this is that the Hebrew uses the singular “year” for 100 and 20, but the plural “years” for 7. So much for Hebrew style! Sarah’s death is now reported, in Kiryat Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. The rest of the parashah unfolds as a response to Sarah’s death: Chapter 23 relates the negotiations which lead to the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a burial cave for Abraham’s family, chapter 24 [the longest chapter in Genesis at 67 verses] the process by which Rebecca is secured as a wife for Isaac, and chapter 25, Abraham’s remarriage, the births of six more sons, the dismissal of the children of the

Parsha Talk, with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. If it seems that we have just read parashat va-yera [Genesis 18-22] it is because, in a sense, we have. Chapters 21 and 22 were the Torah readings on the first and second day of Rosh Hashanah. In our conversation this week, we started at the end, with aqedat yitzchaq, the Binding of Isaac, and stayed there. Aside from an occasional reference to earlier parts of the parashah, we focused on the endlessly fascinating story of this last test of Avraham. Feel free to share your own thoughts on my Facebook page or at parshatalk@gmail.com. Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha Talk, with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Lekh L’kha [Genesis 12-17], following on the heels of B’reishit and Noach these past two weeks, is the third in a sequence of winnowing or sifting. Taken together, they illustrate the rabbinic category of work known as bo’rer, which forbids the separation of something good from something bad on Shabbat. The first man, Adam, is created with high hopes. In the course of the next 9 generations, the quality of humankind will deteriorate so badly that God’s only solution is to destroy the world. The next week, the world is recreated anew, as it were, with No’ach. This time when the generations deteriorate, God does not destroy the world, but singles out one individual, Avram, soon to be renamed Avraham [17:5], to be the bearer of God’s word in the world. In the language of the beginning verses of the parashah, Avram’s destiny is to be a blessing, to bring God’s word into the world. We spent nearly the whole conversation o

Pasha Talk: with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Noach [Genesis 6:9-11:32] concerns itself primarily with the Flood in which God destroyed nearly the entire world he had so carefully created in the opening chapters of Geneis. Noah is described as a righteous person in his generation, which led the rabbis to speculate how he would have fared in a different generation. This midrash provided the springboard for our discussion this week, which moved from a discussion of Noah in his generation to the experience of time to the odd little story [9:18-27] which concludes the Flood narrative. We concluded with a consideration of Chapter 10, sometimes described as the Family of Nations. Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat B’reshit [Genesis 1:1–6:8] begins the annual reading of the Torah once again. We spend some time discussing the phenomenon of reading and rereading the Torah, and how we might approach it with new eyes, with freshness, year after year. We discuss Creation, as it appears in chapter 1 and in chapter 2, we discuss Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel; we talk about Noah, who makes his appearance at the end of the parashah. There is no end to what we could talk about other than the one imposed by time! We welcome you to our new year of conversation about the Torah, and we look forward to hearing from you, by e-mail at parshatalk@gmail.com, facebook, or some other medium. Shabbat Shalom!

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. It is a special edition of Parashah Talk this week since there is no regular weekly Torah Reading because of Chol Hamo’ed Sukkot; the intermediate days of Sukkot have a special Torah Reading. On Shabbat we read from Exodus 33:12-34:26, from Parashat Ki Tissa. We read the same selection on Chol Hamo’ed Pesach. In addition to this special Torah Reading, we have a special haftarah, about the future war of Gog and Magog as prophesied by Ezekiel. And, we read from Megillah Kohelet, the Book of Ecclesiastes. We spent most our time on this Book, what it might mean to us today, how we might best understand it as a reading for Sukkot, and how it should have ended. We saved a few minutes for a consideration of Simchat Torah, which is observed on Tuesday, October 18th. When we return next week, we return to Bereshit, where, each year, it all begins anew. Moadim L’simchah! Shabbat Shalom! Chag Same’ach!

Parsha Talk - with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chseler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Ha’azinu [Deuteronomy 32:1-52] presented us with unusual difficulties, of a technological nature. Because of the way Yom Kippur fell out, we recorded during my school day, and space in my school is at a premium. Eliot askes for mechilah [forgiveness] in case I come in and out, I was reminded periodically that my internet connection was unstable, and I do as well. Ha’azinu presents other difficulties as well. The parashah is divided into a poem [verses 1–43] and a prose sections [44–52], which Professor Jeffrey Tigay entitles “Conclusion to the Poem”. The poem, as far as the Torah records, should have become more important than it actually became, perhaps because of some of the theological issues which we discuss. The parashah ends with God yet again telling Moses he will not enter the Promised Land, but can only view it from the mountain. We also took the opportunity to discuss some elements of the upcoming holiday of

Parsha Talk with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Va-yelekh [Deuteronomy 31:1–30] is the shortest parashah in terms of verses, but in terms of words and letters it is second to V-zot Ha-b’rakhah, which is read on Simhat Torah. When Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat, it is paired with Nitzavim [read last week] 29:9–30:30, which has forty verses. Our discussion this week is perhaps more freewheeling than most other weeks, and if memory serves correctly, we did not delve too deeply into the parashah. Eliot noted that this is the most musical season of the Jewish year, and from their our conversation meandered, taking in the significance of Moses’ death at 120 years and various connections to Psalm 27, occasioned by variations of the phrase hazak v-amatz, which appears 3 times this week, and in the last verse of Psalm 27, as well as in the first chapter of Joshua. As the Jewish calendar works out, this is our first Parashah Talk in 5783. We began this journey ove

Parsha Talk, with Rabbis Eliot Malomet, Barry Chesler and Jeremy Kalmanofsky. Parashat Nitzavim [Deut. 29:9-30:20] is the last parashah of 5782, and the third from the end of the weekly readings [V-zot Ha-b’rakhah (Deut. 33:1-34:12), the last parashah, is read on the morning of Simchat Torah (this year, Tuesday, October 18, 2022)]. Nitzavim begins with the declaration that “You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God . . . to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is concluding with you this day. . . “ (29:9-11 [NJPS]). The Torah goes on to elaborate, “I make this covenant . . . not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here this day (29:13-14). This led us to a discussion of which looms larger in our imagination, the Revelation at Sinai or the Coveant Renewal in the plains of Moab. We managed to mention, and discuss, the last verse of the parashah as well, which also