Inside Parsha

Zhou Enlai, one the Communist leaders of China in the 20 th Century was once (quite famously) asked his opinion on the ramifications of the French Revolution of 1789. His wonderful answer was “too soon to say.” Us Jews, like the Chinese, have been around for a long while. And with that, comes an understanding of the long arc of history. What looks like a historical shift to the person on the street, is, too the individual steeped in history, a small tremor on a graph – a graph which could very well be flowing in the opposite direction of that very shift. Yaakov was different to his father and grandfather. Both men achieved much whilst in the land of Israel, in a spiritual domain, whilst Yaakov’s main accomplishments occur in the house of his uncle Lavan in Charan - the diaspora, a place of crass materialism. While Avraham and Yitzchak accessed truth as it is in heaven, Yaakov’s task was to bring this truth down to earth. To struggle with opposition, and to overcome it. Inter...

For the contemporary minded, there’s a deeply troubling introduction to a deeply troubling episode in Parshat Vayishlach. The tragic saga of Dina’s violation by Shechem, followed by the retributive massacre of the city, raises the eyebrow of the critical reader at a rate of something like twice per verse. Resolutions remains a touch out of grasp. What this a case of love or lust (see Bereishit 34:2-3)? Where Shimon and Levi even remotely justified in their vengeance? What was Ya’akov’s opinion on the matter? What outcome would Dina have wanted? Perhaps most perplexing of all is the introduction to the debacle – “and Dina, the daughter of Leah who had been born to Ya’akov, went out to see the daughters of the land.” Rashi, the foremost commentary on the Torah focuses on the superfluous rendition of her lineage and writes “due to her outgoingness she is labelled ‘the daughter of Leah’, for her mother too was an out-goer, [evidenced in the episode of the duda’im flowers (see B...

Back in my footballing days, my preferred position was full-back. It lacked the glitz of the full forward position, but I never felt less useful. While his role was kicking goals, mine was to prevent them. You might be familiar with the formula of “job, career and calling” – three modes of relating to one’s particular occupation. Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour, found the people with the highest level of satisfaction in their workplace saw their work not just as a way to earn money (job), or a path towards self-fulfilment (career), but rather as a way of perfecting the world (calling). Often we define successful individuals as those who lead innovation, galvanise public opinion and accrue fabulous wealth, while the administrative assistant and the office cleaner are merely their support staff. Dr. Wrzesniewski demonstrated that in terms of subjective happiness, this association is false. I recall one of the cleaners at the school I...

Self-care is important. Success is all too often measured in terms of the measurable; possessions, popularity and performance. Spending time alone, nurturing one’s mind and heart, doesn’t attract attention in the marketplace of achievement. Some people chase opportunities, others are chased by them. Avraham was the former, his life was perpetual motion, from city to city and town to town, raising awareness and inspiring change. Yitzchak was the latter, never moving from the Holy Land, a settled existence, a waterhole of sorts eagerly sought by thirsty souls. Consolidation and progress are the yin and yang of real life. Neither can exist without the other. Yet consolidation is often sacrificed on the altar of progress. (Avraham nearly did slaughter Yitzchak, come to think of it). Whilst spreading the word might be the goal, the words spread need to have meaning. For it is only the consolidated word that lasts forever. Yitzchak’s story is a brief one, but tellingly, his p...

The 20 th Century proved the dangers of the Particular. Ultra-Nationalism precipitated atrocities the kind of which our world had never known. In the 21 st Century, however, we have seen the pendulum swing in the opposite direction; Nationalism is controversial, if not shunned entirely. The world wide web has opened new channels of interconnection and the ease of travel has forever diminished the size of our globe. Extremes are never good. Neither extreme Universalism nor extreme Particularism. Avraham and Sarah represent the Global and the National. Avraham is the father of many nations, the spiritual forebear of the worlds 3.8 billion Christians, Muslims and Jews. Sarah is the mother of just one people, the Jewish nation. Avraham, the universalist, did not distinguish his love between his children. Sarah, the particularist, devoted her motherly love exclusively towards Yitzchak. Fascinatingly, Sarah’s influence grew after her passing. In the wake of her death, A...

Some people are born lovely. They are kind and caring, compassionate and considerate. It’s a combination of nature and nurture, no doubt, and it is eminently unfair. The rest of humanity, who find themselves struggling with an inner beast, obsessively self-absorbed and far less thoughtful of others, can only curse their misfortune. We live in a ruthless world; one in which the good get gooder, and the bad, get badder. A counter-intuitive midrash informs us that Avraham, our wonderfully hospitable great-grandfather, would make it his business feeding ravenous guests he found roaming the Middle Eastern deserts. When concluding their meal he would encourage them to bless the Creator for their food. In the absence of their acquiescence, he would demand the exorbitant sum due – prices on par with the General Store in Timbuctoo. Without fail, the compromised guest would begrudgingly make the said blessing, preferring the small cost to their pride over the larger bill to their back ...

We all recall the white-bearded G-d of our childhood. For each of us, G-d had a particular image; a great policeman in the sky, a Rabbi writ large or a superhero. As adults we come to appreciate G-d as a transcendent being, the sum total of everything, He as a part of us, and we as a part of Him – and of course, the fact that He is no male. As a child, G-d’s invisibility is an exciting magic trick, an enormous figure concealed by a Harry Potteresque cloak. As adults, we appreciate G-d’s invisibility as a product of His being unchained by time and space, His abode in the realm of the conceptual. And, along with the transition in thinking, we denigrate our former selves. We bemoan the teachers, texts and tunes that provided us with that immature frame. We lament that we did not start kinder with an appreciation of what we now know. But I’m not so sure about that. If we examine the Torah superficially, G-d in fact does appear quite ‘white-bearded’. He has a large arm (Exodus 14:3...