https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/all-that-lives-shall-bless-your-name/?utm_campaign=MJL_Prayer&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mjl_maropost This Nishmat Kol Chai benediction is said at the transition between our preparatory prayers and core elements of the morning service. BY RABBI RACHEL ISAACS The linguistic connection between breath, spirit, and life plays a central role in Jewish theology and prayer. In Hebrew, the word neshama means both breath and soul. Ruach connotes both spirit and wind. These double meanings underline a deeper belief that breath is our life force, animating not only our bodies but our souls. This idea is reflected in a special benediction recited on Shabbat and major Jewish holidays. Nishmat Kol Chai (literally “the breath of all life”) affirms a shared life force among all of God’s creations, a common breath that not only sustains physical life, but also serves to praise our single Creator. This prayer is the closing benediction of Pesukei d’Zimra, the verses of song that are meant to spiritually prepare us for the heart of our morning prayers. The structure of the prayer is threefold: 1) affirming God’s universal sovereignty and power of salvation; 2) admitting the human inability to offer sufficient praise to God; and 3) reiterating God’s unparalleled power and our responsibility to offer prayer in response. The prayer begins with this line: “The soul/breath of every living being will praise you, and the spirit of every mortal being will always glorify and extol You, our King.” Nishmat Kol Chai does not begin from a place of Jewish, or even human particularity, but with a profoundly universal assertion: all living creatures are united by breath. And it continues in this expansive tone: “We have no King but You, God of the first and the last, God of all creatures, master of all generations, glorified through great praise, who treats the world with love and all creatures with compassion.” The second section uses the metaphor of the human body to express the human inability to adequately praise God. “Even if our mouths were filled with song like the sea, and our tongues with joy like the sea’s many roaring waves, and our lips with praise like the wide expanse of the sky, and even if our eyes shone like the sun and the moon and even if our hands were spread wide like the eagles in the sky, even if our feet were light like gazelles, we would be unable to adequately acknowledge you with thanks.” This section takes pains to emphasize how limited we are in understanding or articulating the full glory of God’s existence and power. According to Bible scholar Marc Zvi Brettler, assertions of this kind are rare in the Hebrew Bible. The Book of Psalms, for example, is full of attempts to adequately praise the Divine. Only the Book of Job, he notes, focuses strongly on the human limits of understanding and expression. This section also narrows the narrative scope, talking about the specific miracles God has performed for the Jewish people, including the exodus from Egypt and the kindnesses shown to our ancestors in evading plagues and surviving famines. Nishmat Kol Chai concludes by imploring us to use every limb of our body to praise God to the best of our limited ability — even as it reminds us of God’s peerless power and majesty: “Who is like You? Who is equal to You? Who can be compared to You? O great, mighty and awesome God, God most high, maker of heaven and earth. We will laud, praise and glorify You and bless Your holy name.” This threefold structure of this prayer serves as a gateway between the warm-up prayers of Pesukei d’Zimra, and the heavy lifting of the morning service — the recitation of the Shema and Amidah, which is mandated by Jewish law. Nishmat Kol Chai focuses our attention on the unifying life force of breath, which is also our primary vehicle to praise God. It reminds us of the great miracles of creation and redemption, and of God’s everlasting presence in our lives. But it also sets realistic expectations about our ability to praise a Divine force that is incomparable and beyond our comprehension. Rabbi Elliot Dorff makes an important point about Nishmat Kol Chai’s humbling words. Acknowledging the limits of our praise does not mean that we are eternally lost, lacking, or worthless. Our need for God’s love and fidelity, and God’s constant supply of both, is what creates the Divine bond that gives our lives meaning. He writes: “God’s relationship to us lends our lives value. This notion contrasts sharply with some Christian (Augustininan and Calvinist) conceptions of human beings as being hopelessly depraved from the moment of birth (tainted with original sin), unable to earn salvation through deeds, and unworthy to be saved by God. Only faith in Jesus can save, and (in Calvinism) even that will save just the elect few. For Jews, by contrast, our lack of merit is balanced by our ongoing relationship with God, who values us.” Nishmat Kol Chai reminds us of our limited capacity to understand God’s wisdom in its totality or to articulate the mysteries of the world, but it does not doom us to darkness. Rather, our need for God, and God’s appreciation of our heartfelt and full-bodied praise, provide the basis for a relationship that provides meaning, structure, and value to our lives as divine creations, human beings, and Jews.

https://youtu.be/4owMAopbkKM Parashat Shemot 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת שְׁמוֹת Read on 25 December 2021 / 21 Tevet 5782. Parashat Shemot is the 13th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Exodus 1:1-6:1 https://tikkun.io/#/r/2-1-1 Parashat Shemot tells of the Israelites' affliction in Egypt, the hiding and rescuing of the infant Moses, Moses in Midian, the calling of Moses, circumcision on the way, meeting the elders, and Moses before Pharaoh Triennial year 3 1: 4:18-20 · 3 p’sukim · 2: 4:21-26 · 6 p’sukim · 3: 4:27-31 · 5 p’sukim · 4: 5:1-5 · 5 p’sukim · 5: 5:6-9 · 4 p’sukim · 6: 5:10-14 · 5 p’sukim · 7: 5:15-6:1 · 10 p’sukim · maf: 5:22-6:1 · 3 p’sukim · Haftarah for Ashkenazim: Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23 · 23 p’sukim Haftarah for Sephardim: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3 · 22 p’sukim Seventy souls went down to Egypt, offspring of Israel. The sons/family of Israel/Jacob had now become the nation of Israel. Now, a new Pharoah arises who knew not Joseph. Sages say that a new dynasty of Pharaohs overthrew the previous dynasty of Bedouin conquerors who were native Egyptians. Xenophobic, they enslaved the Israelites who had grown in numbers, saying they would join any would be conquerors to defeat them. Our ancestors were forced to work unpaid to for public works projects. Much of the work was pointless, no purpose, so the Israelites couldn’t feel any pride in their accomplishment. The Israelites continue to grow in numbers so Pharaoh tells the midwives to kill every boy (which Pharaoh considered a threat) born. The midwives “feared G-d” and let them live, telling Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were so strong that they gave birth before they got there. Pharaoh then tells them to throw the baby boys into the Nile to drown. A boy is born to a Levite couple after the decree to drown baby boys just born. His mother puts him in a wicker basket and floats him down the Nile to where the daughter of Pharaoh is bathing. The boy’s sister watches and when the daughter takes the boy and wants to adopt this Hebrew as her own son, the girl offers find her a Hebrew midwife to wean the baby (who is actually the boy’s real mother). Pharaoh’s daughter names him “Moses” because she drew him from the water. Moses is raised as Egyptian royalty. Moses grows up and goes out to see the plight of “his kinsfolk”. He sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating an Israelite and he kills him and hides the body. The next day he sees two Israelites fighting (thought to have been Dathan and Abiram) and he tries to break it up. They confront him on having killed the Egyptian and Moses flees Egypt fearing for his life. He ends up in Midian at a well where he intervenes when he sees the daughters of a Midianite chieftain, Jethro, being harassed by shepherd men. They bring him home to their father, telling him that an Egyptian saved them. Jethro welcomes him into his household and gives his eldest daughter, Tzipporah, to him as his wife. Together they have a son, Gershom. Meanwhile, a new Pharaoh takes the throne in Egypt who continues enslaving the Israelites and G-d took notice. Moses is out shepherding the flock when he sees on the mountain a bush that is burning but not consumed by fire. He goes up to investigate and is met by an angel. The angel tells him that this is hallowed ground, and he should take off his shoes. A voice from the bush tells him that this is G-d, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and he has heard the groaning of the Israelites. Moses asks G-d who He is, because the elders will ask from where is he getting this mandate, G-d tells him “I am what I am”. G-d tells Moses he will send him back to Egypt to ask Pharaoh to release them from bondage. The Israelites will take from their neighbors spoils to pay for the 120 years of forced labor. Hashem tells Moses to tell the elders that He will take them out of the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. They should tell Pharoah that they want to go out in the wilderness for three days to worship Hashem. If Pharaoh refuses, Hashem will smite Egypt with various wonders. Moses complains he is not worthy. G-d shows him miracles of his staff turning into a snake and back into a staff, his hand becoming leprous then healing, and he will take water from the Nile that will turn into blood. Finally, Moses complains that he is “slow of speech”. Hashem reassures him that it is G-d who empowers humans. Moses is to go meet up with his brother Aaron, who will say what Moses tells him to say. Moses tells Jethro his plans to return to Egypt with his family and Jethro tells him to go in peace. On the way, they stop at an inn and Tzippora circumcises their son. Moses gets to Egypt, meets up with Aaron and they tell the elders Hashem’s plans. Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Pharaoh retorts that he does not know Hashem and refuses to let them go for their three-day journey to the wilderness to honor Hashem, that he needs them to do the work. Pharaoh then demands that they make the same number of bricks, but they have to get their own straw. The Israelites were angry at Moses and Aaron for making their jobs worse. Hashem told them, “You will soon see what I will do to Pharaoh”.

https://youtu.be/GXev-CgmR80 Parashat Vayechi 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת וַיְחִי Read on 18 December 2021 / 14 Tevet 5782. Parashat Vayechi is the 12th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28-50:26 https://tikkun.io/#/r/1-47-28 Parashat Vayechi tells of Jacob's request for burial in Canaan, Jacob's blessing of Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob's blessing of his sons, Jacob's death and burial, and Joseph's death. Triennial year 3 1: 49:27-30 · 4 p’sukim · 2: 49:31-33 · 3 p’sukim · 3: 50:1-6 · 6 p’sukim · 4: 50:7-9 · 3 p’sukim · 5: 50:10-14 · 5 p’sukim · 6: 50:15-20 · 6 p’sukim · 7: 50:21-26 · 6 p’sukim · maf: 50:23-26 · 4 p’sukim · Haftarah: I Kings 2:1 - 2:12 · 12 p’sukim And Jacob lived for 147 years and in Egypt for 17 years. He asked Joseph to commit to burying him in with his father in Canaan. Jacob is on his death bed and Joseph is the first of the sons to visit him. He takes Manasseh and Ephraim with him, and Jacob tells him that he will adopt them as his own “sons” (heirs), like Reuben and Simeon. Jacob lays his hands on them to bless them. Ephraim, the younger, was given the preferred blessing. To this day, we bless children by saying, “May Hashem make you like Ephraim and Manasseh”. Jacob now calls his other sons to give them blessings. After that, he charges them to bury him in the field of Machpelah with the other Patriarchs and Matriarchs. He then dies. Joseph then has Jacob embalmed and he is mourned by both his family and Egyptians. Joseph then gets permission from Pharaoh to bury Jacob at Machpelah, which he does accompanied by his brothers, elders of Egypt and their servants in a great procession to Canaan. But the rest of their families stayed behind. When they all returned to Egypt, the brother were concerned that now that Jacob is dead, Joseph will seek vengeance for their plot. Joseph reassures his brothers he won’t. Joseph lives to be 110 years old. Joseph lives long enough to see Ephraim and Manasseh’s grandchildren. He tells them that G-d will remember them and bring them out of that land to the land that Hashem promised to the Patriarchs. Joseph was then embalmed and laid to rest in Egypt, knowing that he would eventually be buried in the Promised Land.

https://youtu.be/jSZF_xn1t9Q Parashat Vayigash 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת וַיִּגַּשׁ Read on 11 December 2021 / 7 Tevet 5782. Parashat Vayigash is the 11th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Genesis 44:18-47:27 https://tikkun.io/#/r/1-44-18 In Parashat Vayigash, Judah pleads on behalf of his brother Benjamin, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, Jacob comes down to Egypt, and Joseph's administration of Egypt saves lives but transforms all the Egyptians into bondmen. Torah Portion: Triennial year 3 1: 46:28-30 · 3 p’sukim · 2: 46:31-34 · 4 p’sukim · 3: 47:1-6 · 6 p’sukim · 4: 47:7-10 · 4 p’sukim · 5: 47:11-19 · 9 p’sukim · 6: 47:20-22 · 3 p’sukim · 7: 47:23-27 · 5 p’sukim · maf: 47:25-27 · 3 p’sukim · Haftarah: Ezekiel 37:15 - 37:28 · 14 p’sukim Judah approaches Joseph (not knowing who he really is) and tells him that if Benjamin is kept in Egypt as a slave, it would kill their father. Judah requests that he take his place. Joseph is so moved by Judah’s plea that he now realizes that the brothers have remorse and have repented for how they had treated Joseph, and he reveals himself. He tells the brothers that he bears no enmity towards them, and it was G-d’s plan all along for Joseph to come to Egypt and save the world from the famine, and he feels no vengeance against them. Pharaoh hears about this and asks Joseph to bring his father and his family to Egypt where they will be treated with high esteem. They are to not worry about taking any belongings because they will have more than enough when they resettle. The brothers go home and tell Jacob that Joseph is still alive and that they will be migrating. Jacob feels that the prospect of seeing Joseph once more makes his life complete. The family is introduced to Pharaoh and Jacob blesses Pharaoh. Pharaoh puts some of the brothers in charge of the royal herd. Meanwhile, the Egyptians run out of grain and money to buy grain. Joseph then arranges a system whereby the citizens of Egypt will be vassals to Pharaoh. They will now be always giving part of their grain harvest to Pharaoh in exchange for receiving grain during the remainder of the famine.

https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/jew-vs-jew On the real lessons of the Hanukkah story. Gabriel Katz Ask most American Jews what Hanukkah is about and they’ll probably mention the miracle of the oil lasting for eight nights. Or playing with dreidels. Or snacking on jelly doughnuts. But the true story of Hanukkah, which begins tonight, is far darker. The old joke is that most Jewish holidays can be summed up by the following: They tried to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat. Hanukkah, though, is not only about Jews being oppressed by outside forces. It is also about intramural Jewish conflict—in this case a bloody civil war. On the one side were the Hellenist Jews, who wanted desperately to accommodate the ruling Seleucid regime, and were willing to do whatever it took to gain acceptance: changing their names; undoing their circumcisions so they could play naked in the gymnasia; worshiping Zeus instead of God. On the other were the Maccabees, the fundamentalist rebels who insisted on Jewish particularism and resisted assimilation to the death. Including the deaths of their fellow Jews. The war began in 167 B.C. in Judea, in a town called Modi’in just outside of Jerusalem, when Mattathias, a Jewish priest, was ordered to prepare a sacrifice to Greek gods in the Jewish temple. He refused. Then he slaughtered the governor who issued the order and a fellow Jew—an idolator who had complied. What followed was an all-out uprising, with a small band of Maccabees defeating a far more powerful Seleucid force, recapturing the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and reasserting Jewish sovereignty in Judea. Contained in this story are the themes that have run through Jewish history. The tension between universalism and particularism. The battle between assimilation and self-assertion. The pull between fundamentalism and secularism. And the complicated question of how far the bonds of peoplehood can strain before they break. We are so very far from Judea in the 2nd century B.C. But these questions burn more brightly than usual these days, as the same ancient tensions still crackle, forever threatening to ignite yet another conflagration. All of that came to mind as I read the essay below, by Gabriel Katz, for reasons that he explains far better than I can. Happy Hanukkah to all. — BW On Friday July 16, I moved across the country and into a Moishe House, one of a network of communal Jewish houses in cities including Boston, New York, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh. On Thursday, July 22, my two roommates asked me to move out. What could possibly have gone that wrong in less than a week? Before answering that question, let me explain why I wanted to live in a Moishe House. Judaism was the foundation of my childhood. As a child, I attended Jewish day school and Jewish summer camp and regularly celebrated Shabbat and the Jewish holidays. Some of my most enduring childhood memories are at the Shabbat dinner table, where my parents and their friends would discuss world affairs and important societal issues. There were always multiple viewpoints expressed. My mother is a rabbi, and my parents always taught us that such disagreements were the essence of living Jewishly—to argue, as the rabbis taught, for the sake of heaven. I lost touch with the Jewish community during high school and college, and after graduation I yearned for a Jewish community made up of my peers. I hoped that living in a Moishe House would allow me to reconnect with the Jewish community in a meaningful way. Initially, my roommates and I got along well. In just my first few days, we had brunch at a local restaurant, went out for drinks at a local club, watched NBA games and started the show “New Girl.” On my sixth day, I attended my first Moishe House event. Toward the end of the evening, a couple of people, including my roommate Michelle (because of the unpleasant story I am about to tell, I am changing the names of all who are involved) and her boyfriend, invited me to a bar. Michelle’s boyfriend drove me to the bar, while Michelle and her friend drove separately. As we were driving, he asked what I did for work. I replied that I work in digital technology for a defense contractor. He replied that my employer “killed lots of people”, and that I only thought highly of the company “because they paid your bills.” Shocked, I replied that my view of the company was motivated by reasons other than my paycheck, namely my belief in the need for American leadership on the global stage. As a Jew and a political conservative who grew in Massachusetts, I am very used to being in the minority. But my family’s Shabbat dinner table taught me the value of voicing my opinions respectfully and engaging others in good faith. No one ever made me feel that I didn’t belong because I had a different view. What I encountered in the Moishe House was not the Jewish vibe I grew up with. At the bar that night, the group spent hours interrogating me. There was no conversation. No discussion. No back and forth. When I explained that I am politically conservative, someone responded, “On purpose?” The next evening, my roommates sat me down in our living room and demanded that I move out. They explained that when they agreed to accept me as a roommate, they did not know I was politically conservative. Michelle said that she felt “unsafe” around me, and that she would not be able to take her birth control or bring her queer friends around me. My other roommate, Sarah, said that she did not think to ask about my political views because I was the first young conservative she had ever met. They both repeatedly said that my political views made them “uncomfortable.” In an email later that week, Sarah wrote me: “If you cannot unequivocally say that you are anti-racist and support gay rights and women's reproductive health and prison reform and defunding the police, among other important platforms, then we have an irreconcilable differences that would not lead to a harmonious living environment.” She continued: “I implore you to look inside yourself [and] consider why your viewpoints make us so uncomfortable.” While I would have been happy to engage with my roommates on these important issues, I was not willing to subject myself to litmus tests and interrogations. In that spirit, I replied: “Personally, my politics begin and end with being kind to others, never being exclusionary, and welcoming all people and views.” I explained: “I just moved across the country to this house, willing to live with whomever thanks to our shared Jewish faith and the belief that disagreements can be overcome through dialogue and respect for each other.” This is my apparently scandalous worldview: I strongly believe that free markets, limited government, a strong national defense, the rule of law, and individual freedoms are the best means to ensure that everyone in a society can thrive--including disadvantaged minorities. This is what made me “unsafe.” Throughout the entire ordeal, I dealt with both regional and national Moishe House staff. They behaved throughout as though I had done something wrong, not as if I was the one being bullied. They never acknowledged that my roommates were asking me to leave because they did not agree with my political views. Instead, they portrayed my roommates’ behavior as taking issue with the supposed animus I had towards gay people, Native Americans, and other minorities. (I have none.) This allowed them to label the whole ordeal as a “roommate dispute.” After two long weeks, I left the Moishe House on August 6 and was fully reimbursed for my moving expenses. Moishe House’s website states, “We embrace and encourage a variety of voices, backgrounds and perspectives. We recognize that clear and open communication are key to cultivating community.” Moishe House’s Resident Handbook explicitly states that “Moishe Houses are intended to be spaces of community and comfort regardless of political affiliation” and that this is “really important to building a strong Moishe House network.” How could any Moishe House staff read the email I received and fail to acknowledge a clear violation of Moishe House’s values? How can an organization that claims to be about welcoming the whole Jewish community consider a person with my politics to be beyond the pale? The Jewish community is not immune from the growing censoriousness of American political culture. While Jewish tradition treasures discussion and debate, my ordeal suggests that the Moishe House does not tolerate any deviation from left-wing orthodoxy, or at the very least is not willing to support someone who does. The Jewish community these days purports to prize “inclusion” above all else. But if my experience is any indication, inclusion does not include people who are judged to have the wrong political views. This is a tragic departure from the most powerful and enduring lessons of Jewish history. As we celebrate Hanukkah this week, I am reminded of the famous disagreement between Hillel and Shammai and their respective academies, Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, for how to properly light the Hanukkah lights. Although the method of Beit Hillel is now the worldwide practice, we remember and honor both of their approaches 2,000 years later because both rabbis were prepared to debate and discuss with one another—and to allow their students to marry one another. In an era in which so many want to insist that politics supersedes family, relationship and community, Judaism offers another vision. For further Hanukkah reading: The Menorah, by Theodore Herzl, is among the most moving essays about Hanukkah—and Judaism—that I’ve ever read. I get chills when I read this 2017 oped by Daniella Greenbaum about lighting the Hanukkah candles under the swastika’s shadow. Liel Leibovitz wrote a typically provocative and powerful piece about the holiday in First Things. The Cool Jews by Dara Horn, published a few years ago in Tablet, is about the ancient (and tragic) Jewish desire to fit in. And listen to Leslie Odom Jr. sing a gorgeous Ma’oz Tzur: https://youtu.be/Beb8FsHBh-g

https://youtu.be/3w58197A2_s Parashat Miketz 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת מִקֵּץ Read on 4 December 2021 / 30 Kislev 5782. Parashat Miketz is the 10th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Genesis 41:1-44:17 https://tikkun.io/#/r/1-41-1 Parashat Miketz tells of Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph's rise to power in Egypt, and Joseph's testing of his brothers. Triennial year 3 1: 43:16-18 · 3 p’sukim · 2: 43:19-25 · 7 p’sukim · 3: 43:26-29 · 4 p’sukim · 4: 43:30-34 · 5 p’sukim · 5: 44:1-6 · 6 p’sukim · 6: 44:7-17 · 11 p’sukim · 7: Numbers 28:9-15 · 7 p’sukim · // Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Chanukah maf: Numbers 7:42-47 · 6 p’sukim · // Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Chanukah Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14-4:7 · 21 p’sukim // Shabbat Rosh Chodesh Chanukah Joseph spends another two years in prison, after which time Pharoah has two dreams which disturb him. In the first dream, he is standing over the Nile and seven healthy cows come out followed by seven ugly gaunt cows that devour them. In his next dream, seven healthy ears of corn grow on a stalk followed by seven scorched ears that swallow up the healthy ears. He is disturbed by these dreams and neither his magicians nor his wise men can satisfactorily interpret the dreams. It is then that the chief cupbearer tells him about Joseph having interpreted accurately his own dream the two years prior. Pharoah sends for Joseph who is cleaned up. Pharoah recounts the dreams to Joseph, but this time adding that the gaunt cows appeared the same after devouring the healthy cows and that he had never seen such cows in Egypt before. Joseph tells Pharoah that G-d will help him interpret the dream and confirms the dreams are the same, and that G-d will also tell Pharaoh what to do. There will be seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Since the gaunt cows looked the same after eating the healthy cows, Josephs advised Pharoah to find a wise man to store excess grain for the coming years of famine. Pharoah puts Joseph in charge of that and makes him viceroy. He gives him a new Egyptian name, “Zapenath-paneah” and Asenath, Potiphar’s daughter, to marry. Joseph is thirty years old. Joseph carries out the plan and has two sons, Manasseh and Ephriam. The famine sets in after the seven years of plenty and people from other countries come to Egypt for grain. Jacob sends ten sons (Benjamin stayed behind) down to Egypt to procure grain in the midst of the famine. The brothers come face-to-face with Joseph, the grand vizier to ask for grain, bowing to him thus validating Joseph’s dreams from years earlier. They do not recognize him since it’s been over twenty years and Joseph is now a man. Joseph recognizes them and tests them for their character. He accuses them of being spies and responds to them saying how they have another brother at home. Joseph imprisons them but after three days, brings them back and tells them to bring their youngest brother to him to verify their denial of being spies. He has Simeon shackled and imprisoned as a hostage. The brothers seem to be burdened by guilt for how they treated Joseph years before and bemoan that this is their punishment. On the journey home, the brothers reach into their sacks for food and find their own money bags. They get home and tell Jacob what happened. Jacob is not willing to endanger his only son from Rachel, Benjamin. The famine is still severe and the Jacob wants to send them back to Egypt for more grain. They remind him that they had their money in their sacks and the grand vizier (Joseph) demanded they bring Benjamin to him. Judah convinces Israel that he will be responsible for Benjamin, and now Jacob lets him go. This time, they bring double the money and gifts. Upon arriving, Joseph greets them and invites them to dine with him. Joseph sees Benjamin and is overcome with emotions, so he excuses himself to gain composure. Simeon is brought out and they all clean up in preparation for the meal. They are seated according to age and Benjamin is given double portions. Joseph makes one final test for their integrity and repentance for how they have treated him in the past. He has their bags filled with food and their money. He also plants his silver goblet in Benjamin’s bag. After they barely leave, Joseph sends his steward out to catch up to them outside the city and accuses them of stealing his special goblet. The brothers deny the charge and invite the steward to search their bags, insisting that if found they will be his slaves. The steward finds the goblet in Benjamin’s bag and the brothers are distraught. Jacob set this situation up wanting to know if the brothers will defend Benjamin, or being Jacob’s favorite, abandon him as they did to Joseph. Judah now steps forward to address he grand vizier.

The tradition of praying for the government reflects a recognition that Jewish welfare is bound up with that of the nations in which Jews live. BY RABBI RACHEL ISAACS The tension between synagogue and statecraft is an old one. Since the destruction of the first Temple in 586 B.C.E., the Jewish community has recognized how our fate is inextricably tied to the welfare of the states in which we live and the quality of their governance. The prophet Jeremiah wrote from Babylon: “And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.” Jeremiah 29:7 Malbim, a 19th century commentator, explains that abundance comes to the Jewish community through Babylon, and thus we must pray for the governments of the nations in which we live. Our prayers for the welfare of the government and its leaders is not limited to concern for the well-being of the Jewish people alone. In Pirkei Avot 3:2, Rabbi Chanina teaches: “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, every man would swallow his neighbor alive.” These words strongly resemble those written hundreds of years later by the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who famously asserted that life without government would be “nasty, brutish, and short.” In this perspective, government plays a crucial role in regulating humanity’s worst impulses and safeguarding the lives of all citizens. While there may be tribulations with certain governments or authorities over time, the idea of government more broadly is embraced by the rabbis as a necessary instrument for preserving life, law, and order. It’s for this reason that almost all Jewish communities today incorporate a prayer for the government into the weekly Shabbat service, most commonly as part of the Torah service. (A separate prayer for the State of Israel is also commonly recited at the point in the service.) The first such prayer was introduced into the Jewish prayer book by David Abudarham in the 14th century, but many prayers for the government have been crafted over the centuries. While the specific wording varies, most versions ask for blessings upon the land and for government officials to have the counsel necessary to make wise, compassionate decisions in line with the values of our tradition. According to scholar Jonathan Sarna, the traditional prayer for local government, often called in Hebrew Hanoten Teshuah (“He who grants deliverance”), was firmly cemented into Jewish liturgy by the early 17th century. This prayer emphasizes Jewish loyalty to the broader polity and asks God to “bless, guard, protect, help, exalt, magnify, and highly aggrandize,” the sovereign in the hopes that these words of praise and God’s grace would protect the local Jewish community. The prayer represents Jewish hopes that open expressions of fealty in synagogue would provide security for their communities and lessen incidences of anti-Jewish discrimination or violence. The original wording of Hanoten Teshuah underwent serious changes in an American context. A prayer that asks for the long and successful reign of kings and princes no longer fit a democratic context. Earlier references to European kings were replaced by the president, vice-president and appointed officers of the United States. The liberal Jewish movements changed the wording even further to fit a more progressive and self-assured relationship to governmental power. In the Conservative movement’s Siddur, Lev Shalem, the “Prayer for Our Country,” beseeches: “Our God and God of our ancestors, with mercy accept our prayer on behalf of our country and its government. Pour out your blessings upon this land, upon its inhabitants, upon its leaders, its judges, officers, and officials, who faithfully devote themselves to the needs of the public. Help them understand the rules of justice you have decreed, so that peace and security, happiness and freedom, will never depart from our land.” This prayer is notably political without being partisan. With rare exception, Jewish communities offer prayers for the government regardless of which political party is in power or who leads the government. We pray for the good of our neighbors and for wisdom and compassion to guide the decisions of those in power. The prayer for the welfare of our nation serves as a weekly reminder that we do not dwell alone as individuals or a people — the welfare of our neighbors and our government are bound up with our own. This prayer can be challenging if we are not in favor of a particular government, but even during those difficult moments, this prayer affirms the necessity of government as a social good and the vested interest we have in its ability to make just and wise decisions. There are many versions of the Jewish Prayer for the Government, including: • A Reform version can be found on page 130 of the prayer book Mishkan Tefillah (scroll to page). • Two Conservative versions from the movement’s Siddur Lev Shalem. • An earlier version from the Conservative movement’s Siddur Sim Shalom (via Temple Beth-El in Birmingham) • An Orthodox version that dates to 17th century England (presented originally by Menashe ben Israel to Oliver Cromwell).

This enigmatic poem recited almost precisely as Shabbat begins contains a hidden mystical meaning. BY DAVID GOTTLIEB Each week during the Friday evening service, as we prepare to ascend from the weekday world of mundane obligations to the Shabbat realm of blessed rest, we encounter an ancient benediction: Ana b’Koach, an enigmatic prayer said to conceal a mystical formula for spiritual renewal within its plea for divine aid. Ana b’Koach is believed to have been composed by Rabbi Nehunya ben haKanah, who lived in the early centuries of the Common Era and was known both for his meek and forgiving manner and for his adeptness in law and mysticism. The prayer falls in the Kabbalat Shabbat service after the recitation of six psalms (95 through 99, and 29) and serves as both a capstone of the seven days of the week — and a reflection of the entire sixfold/sevenfold structure of creation (more on this below). At the moment when Shabbat bursts forth in our midst, this prayer invokes the creator of all as the ever-present font of life and blessing, and as the progenitor of the process through which we become partners in the renewal of self, society, and world. This process culminates in the onset of Shabbat, which occurs almost at the same moment the prayer is intoned. It opens as follows: We beg you! With the strength of Your right hand’s greatness, untie our bundled sins. Accept the prayer of Your nation; strengthen and purify us, O Awesome One. Please, O Strong One – those who foster your Oneness, guard them like the pupil of an eye. On its surface, Ana b’Koach beseeches God to employ God’s might to free the captive, accept the prayers of the people, and safeguard and renew those who seek the shelter of the Divine presence. But the Jewish mystics see in the prayer the spiritual source code of creation itself. Ana b’Koach is said to contain the 42-letter name of God, concealed in the first letter of each word in the prayer. The 42 words of Ana b’Koach are split into seven verses of six words each, and the first letter of each of the six word s of each line are combined to form one six-letter Divine name, each of which forms aspects or attributes of the 42-letter name. In this conceptualization, creation is patterned after attributes of God, the week reflects the structure of creation and its creator, and the transition from creation to rest is the meeting point of the human and the Divine. The symmetry of this structure is immediately evident when one simply looks at the prayer: Powerful Holy One, with Your abundant goodness guide Your congregation. One and only Exalted One, turn to Your nation which proclaims Your holiness. Accept our entreaty and hear our cry, O Knower of mysteries. This patterning of sixes and sevens is fundamental to the Jewish view of the structure of all of reality. In the Torah, said to be the blueprint for creation, each column of text in the scroll comprises 42 lines. The six-and-seven pattern is also found in the story of redemption: Israel encamps at 42 locations during its long desert sojourn. The seventh day, on which God rested at the culmination of creation, becomes the precedent for the commandment to honor the Sabbath. For these reasons and others, Ana b’Koach is regarded in the mystical tradition as no less than a portal to the power of creation itself, and to creation’s source. The medieval theologian and talmudist Hai ben Sherira, better known as the Hai Gaon (939-1038), identified each of the individual aspects of the Divine name contained in the prayer, and how those aspects related to the special characteristics of each day of the week. In some kabbalistic interpretations, the prayer activates the connection of the seven lower sefirot (or divine emanations) of the kabbalistic Tree of Life to the highest three, connecting physical reality to its metaphysical source. This brief, powerful, symmetrical, elliptical prayer has been to numerous moving melodies, and is also commonly found inscribed, in whole or in part, on jewelry, artwork, or modern-day talismans. Although its mystical significance cannot be overstated, it is also rooted in universally recognizable human emotions, beginning and ending with expressions of the deeply human urge to be heard and attended to by God. Ana b’Koach concludes with this: Bless them, purify them, show them pity, may Your righteousness always recompense them. Powerful Holy One, with Your abundant goodness guide Your congregation. One and only Exalted One, turn to Your nation which proclaims Your holiness. Accept our entreaty and hear our cry, O Knower of mysteries.

https://youtu.be/JNORgapn48o Parashat Vayeshev 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת וַיֵּשֶׁב Read on 27 November 2021 / 23 Kislev 5782. Parashat Vayeshev is the 9th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Genesis 37:1-40:23 https://tikkun.io/#/r/1-37-1 Parashat Vayeshev tells the stories of how Jacob's other sons sold Joseph into captivity in Egypt, how Judah wronged his daughter-in-law Tamar who then tricked him into fulfilling his oath, and how Joseph served Potiphar and was imprisoned when falsely accused of assaulting Potiphar's wife. Triennial year 3 1: 39:1-6 · 6 p’sukim · 2: 39:7-10 · 4 p’sukim · 3: 39:11-18 · 8 p’sukim · 4: 39:19-23 · 5 p’sukim · 5: 40:1-8 · 8 p’sukim · 6: 40:9-15 · 7 p’sukim · 7: 40:16-23 · 8 p’sukim · maf: 40:20-23 · 4 p’sukim · Haftarah: Amos 2:6 - 3:8 · 19 p’sukim This portion focuses on Joseph and we now see the interaction of him and his brothers. Joseph, seventeen years old, is Jacob’s favorite, being the older son of Rachel, his favorite wife. While the other brothers are laboring in the fields with the flocks, Jacob sends off Jacob to bring back a report. Jacob also gave Joseph a multi-colored robe, a sign of a chieftain. Joseph tells his brothers and father his prophetic dreams, that first he and his brothers had sheaths of wheat and his brothers’ sheaths bowed down to his, and that the sun, moon and eleven starts also bowed down to him. The brothers are envious with rage. Jacob sends out Joseph to check up on his brothers. The brothers see him and conspire to kill him, but he is stolen away by Midianites and Ishmaelites and ends up in Egypt, sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard. The portion turns now to Judah. He marries the daughter of a local merchant and has three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. He gets a wife for Er, Tamar. Er was wicked in the sight of Hashem and he dies. Judah then tells Onan to have relations with Tamar so Er will have an heir. Onan is jealous that that child would have the privilege of the first born instead of him, so he doesn’t go through with it. He, too, is struck down by Hashem. Shelah is too young to have relations with Tamar, so Judah tells Tamar to wait. Shelah grows up and still Judah does not give him to her, afraid that Shelah will die like his two older brothers because of Tamar. Tamar then disguises herself as a harlot and tricks Judah into having relations with so she could have an heir. Judah, not knowing she was Tamar, pledges a goat as payment, and gives her his signet ring, staff and cord as collateral. Later, Tamar is pregnant, and Judah is told she got pregnant from being a harlot. Judah sentences her to death, but she displays the ring, cord and staff, and Judah admits to being the father. Judah acknowledges that she did the right thing in getting pregnant to have an heir since Judah didn’t allow her to have relations with his youngest son. The story of Joseph continues as he is now the servant of Potiphar. Potiphar sees that Joseph has divine support because everything Joseph does makes him prosper. Potiphar makes him his chief of staff. Potiphar’s wife lusts for Joseph, but Joseph is loyal to his master and refuses. One day when the two of them are alone, she tries to take Joseph by force. He runs from her but she had grabbed his garment. Potiphar’s wife accuses Joseph of trying to molest her and Potiphar puts him in prison. In prison, however, he impresses the prison chief and is made superintendent of the other prisoners under him. While in prison, both the chief butler and chief baker are imprisoned. They have dreams and Joseph tells them he can interpret them. The chief butler’s dream was of a vine that budded three blossoms that grew grapes. He then pressed the grapes into Pharaoh’s cup and gave it to him. Joseph told him the three buds were three days after which he would be restored to his position in Pharaoh’s court. Joseph also asked the butler to remember him to Pharaoh. The chief baker told Joseph his dream that he had three baskets of bread on his head from which birds ate. Joseph told him he would be hanged in three days, which he was. Both instances happened but the chief butler failed to tell Pharaoh about Joseph.

There is a crucial difference between feeling ashamed of our shortcomings and feeling shame about our unworthiness. BY ADAM SOCLOF Though I was universally beloved by my elementary school teachers, many of them picked up on variations of the same character flaw: I was really hard on myself. In kindergarten, I once confessed to eating my pudding before my sandwich, seemingly convinced some tragedy would befall me. In second grade, my teacher noticed that I reacted to being asked to stop socializing as if I had been caught committing a major crime. And during the recitation of S’lach Lanu, I would strike my chest so hard the reverberations would inspire similarly exaggerated copycat gestures. S’lach Lanu, the sixth blessing of the weekday Amidah, is a prayer for forgiveness. The text of the prayer is as follows: סְלַח לָנוּ אָבִינוּ כִּי חָטָאנוּ. מְחַל לָנוּ מַלְכֵּנוּ כִּי פָשָׁעְנוּ. כִּי מוחֵל וְסולֵחַ אָתָּה. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’, חַנּוּן הַמַּרְבֶּה לִסְלחַ Forgive us our Father for we have sinned, pardon us our King for we have willfully transgressed, for You pardon and forgive. Blessed are You, O Lord, Who is gracious and ever willing to forgive. As noted in a number of prayer books, it is customary to strike the heart when saying the words “sinned” and “transgressed.” But I wonder: Is beating one’s chest really a healthy expression of penitence? Just how hard should we be on ourselves? Not so much, it turns out. The Midrash in Kohelet Rabbah 7:2 explains that the practice of striking the heart symbolizes the idea that every thought and deed originates in the heart. Though western thinking tends to view the mind as the source of our impulses, in Jewish thought it is the heart from which our actions flow. This is why we tap our chests during S’lach Lanu, as well as during the much longer, more specific enumeration of our sins on Yom Kippur. The chest thumping isn’t so much an act of deserved self-flagellation, but rather a symbolic gesture signifying that we are engaged in an act of conscious reflection. The acclaimed social scientist Brené Brown has suggested that one way to embrace our mistakes without being unduly harsh on ourselves is to focus on our behaviors as problematic — rather than ourselves as flawed. “Shame is a focus on self, guilt is a focus on behavior,” Brown says in her wildly popular 2012 TED talk. “Shame is ‘I am bad.’ Guilt is ‘I did something bad.’ How many of you, if you did something that was hurtful to me, would be willing to say, ‘I’m sorry. I made a mistake?’ How many of you would be willing to say that? Guilt: I’m sorry. I made a mistake. Shame: I’m sorry. I am a mistake.” Similarly, the medieval philosopher Maimonides, in describing the laws of repentance, begins by asserting that confession – a verbal, out-loud accounting for our wrongdoing accompanied by an expression of regret – is integral to the act of repentance. But there is a crucial difference between feeling ashamed of our shortcomings and feeling shame about our unworthiness, between tapping on our hearts as a kind of spiritual defibrillation and flogging ourselves for our mistakes. Indeed, the entire enterprise of repentance hinges on the notion that we are inherently worthy in the eyes of God, and that our misdeeds are merely errors, instances of missing the mark. In fact, the Hebrew word for sin — chet — literally means to “go astray.” The Jewish notion of sin and repentance is rooted in the idea that our inevitable human failings are simply deviations from the true and just path. S’lach Lanu is a thrice daily reminder of our unending capacity to right ourselves. It’s a process that begins with a sincere acknowledgement of our missteps and a commitment to starting anew — and we don’t need to beat ourselves up to do it.

https://youtu.be/eDZTZ7McT1U Parashat Vayishlach 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת וַיִּשְׁלַח Read on 20 November 2021 / 16 Kislev 5782. Parashat Vayishlach is the 8th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Genesis 32:4-36:43 https://tikkun.io/#/r/1-32-4 In Parashat Vayishlach, Jacob reconciles with Esau after wrestling with a "man". The prince Shechem rapes Dinah, whose brothers sack the city of Shechem in revenge. In the family's subsequent flight, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth. Triennial year 3 1: 35:16-26 · 11 p’sukim · 2: 35:27-29 · 3 p’sukim · 3: 36:1-8 · 8 p’sukim · 4: 36:9-19 · 11 p’sukim · 5: 36:20-30 · 11 p’sukim · 6: 36:31-39 · 9 p’sukim · 7: 36:40-43 · 4 p’sukim · maf: 36:40-43 · 4 p’sukim · Haftarah: Obadiah 1:1 - 1:21 · 21 p’sukim Jacob and his family have left Laban and are enroute to his native home. He is preparing to meet up with his estranged brother Esau, through whose land he will be passing. Jacob prepares lavish gifts of livestock for Esau as a peace-offering and to amend taking the birthright. Messengers he sent return to tell him Esau knows his whereabouts and is coming to meet him with 400 men. Jacob is concerned and divides his family and entourage into two camps just in case one is attacked and doesn’t survive. He also prays to Hashem for guidance and protection. That night, Jacob has a vision in which he is wrestling with an angel, the guardian of Esau, whom the Torah describes as a “man”. Jacob suffers a dislocated hip but vanquishes the supernatural creature, who bestows on him the name, “Israel”, which means “he who prevails over the divine”, after his victory over the angel of Esau, with whom he struggled on the banks of the River Jabbok. It can be interpreted to “prevailer over mighty”, “prince of G-d” or “upright one of G-d”. Jacob can now see Esau and his men coming. He divides his entourage into his servants, Leah and her children, and Rachel and Joseph. Esau approaches and they embrace and weep. Jacob offers gifts to Esau who at first refuses, then accepts. Esau offers to accompany them, but Jacob declines stating the frailty of his children and needing to proceed at a very slow pace. Jacob and his family first stay in Succoth, then proceed to settle in Shechem. Dinah, the only girl and daughter in the family, goes out to meet the other girls of Shechem. She is seen by the prince of Shechem who forces himself on her. Shechem now is in love with Dinah and now wants her as his wife. Jacob heard what happened while his sons were out in the field working. The sons then came in and heard about the incident. Hamor, Shechem’s father, approaches Jacob to ask that his daughter Dinah marry his son. Hamor also suggests that their families intermarry and become one people. The sons insist that first Hamor’s subjects circumcise themselves. Shechem and Hamor circumcise themselves and convince the rest of their people to do the same, that Jacob’s riches can become theirs. During the third night after the mass circumcision, Simeon and Levi snuck into the town, killed all the people and took their sister, Dinah. The other brothers then went in and pillaged the town. Jacob confronted Simeon and Levi, worried that other surrounding tribes would see them as a threat and attack, but the two brothers justified their act. Jacob and his family now proceed to Bethel, where Hashem tells him to go and set up an altar as he had earlier promised. Jacob then tells everyone to rid themselves of any pagan jewelry or idols and purify themselves. Hashem now verifies that Jacob is now Israel. Hashem also tells Israel that nations will descend from him, and he will inherit the land promised to Abraham. Rachel dies enroute giving birth to Benjamin, the last of the twelve sons. Isaac also dies and Jacob and Esau and Jacob are reunited at his funeral. Esau and his wives and his offspring are listed. They move to a different location because the land couldn’t support both his and Jacob’s livestock.

https://youtu.be/TXBTjOEEFyQ Parashat Vayetzei 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת וַיֵּצֵא Read on 13 November 2021 / 9 Kislev 5782. Parashat Vayetzei is the 7th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Genesis 28:10-32:3 https://tikkun.io/#/r/1-28-10 Parashat Vayetzei tells of Jacob's travels to, life in, and return from Haran. The parashah recounts Jacob's dream of a ladder to heaven, Jacob's meeting of Rachel at the well, Jacob's time working for Laban and living with Rachel and Leah, the birth of Jacob's children, and the departure of Jacob's family from Laban. Triennial year 3 1: 31:17-21 · 5 p’sukim · 2: 31:22-24 · 3 p’sukim · 3: 31:25-35 · 11 p’sukim · 4: 31:36-42 · 7 p’sukim · 5: 31:43-45 · 3 p’sukim · 6: 31:46-50 · 5 p’sukim · 7: 31:51-32:3 · 7 p’sukim · maf: 32:1-3 · 3 p’sukim · Haftarah for Ashkenazim: Hosea 12:13 - 14:10 · 28 p’sukim Haftarah for Sephardim: Hosea 11:7 - 12:12 · 17 p’sukim Jacob is en route to Haran to spend 20 years with his uncle Laban. At darkness on the first day of his travel, he lies down using a rock as a pillow to sleep. He has dream of a ladder to heaven with angels going up and down. Hashem is there to reassure Jacob that He is the same G-d of his father and grandfather. G-d tells him his descendants will be many and G-d will always be with him. Jacob wakes up and anoints the rock, calls the place “Bethel” and prays. Jacob is thus credited with instituting the Ma’ariv service. Jacob arrives in Haran at the same well that Abraham’s chief servant met his mother to bring home as a wife to his father. He sees some shepherds and inquires about Laban as his daughter Rachel comes to the well to water the flocks. He introduces himself and is attracted to her. She takes him home to meet the family which includes Laban and her older sister Leah. Jacob works for Laban and then Laban offers to pay him. Jacob asks for Rachel’s hand in marriage and Laban tells him to work for seven years to marry Rachel. After seven years, the bride is veiled and after the ceremony, Jacob discovers that it’s Leah, the older daughter, that he married. Laban states that it is custom to marry off the older daughter first. He tells Jacob to observe the marriage rites for a week and then he can marry Rachel as well, but he’d have to work another seven years. Jacob consents. Leah is upset that she is not loved as much as Rachel and hashem “opens her womb” and she gives birth, in succession, to four sons: Reuben, Shimon, Levi and Judah. Rachel is upset that her older sister bore sons while she is still barren. Proclaiming that “without children I shall die!” she tells Jacob to consort with her handmaid Bilhah (“concubinage”) to give him children for her as a surrogate mother. Bilhah conceives Dan and Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, she allowed her maidservant to consort with Jacob as well. Zilpah bore Gad and Asher. Reuben was out in the field during the wheat and came across some mandrakes, considered to be helpful in childbearing. Rachel bargained for them by allowing Leah to take her turn in sleeping with Jacob. Leah then bore Issachar and Zebulun. Leah also bares him a daughter, Dinah. Finally, G-d remembered Rachel and she conceived Joseph. Jacob now wants to take his family and leave, but Laban wants him to stay, saying that he knows that he has prospered because of Jacob. Jacob asks that his wages be off-colored sheep and goats. Jacob arranged specially designed rods in front of the flocks so that they gave birth to similarly colored sheep and goats, which were to be his. With Jacob becoming wealthy with flocks, Laban and his sons have a different attitude. Hashem tells Jacob to return to his homeland. Jacob calls Rachel and Leah and tells them that they are leaving and that their father Laban had changed their agreement multiple times. Rachel and Leah felt that they were used merely for barter and were anxious to leave as well. They leave without saying goodbye to Laban while the latter is off shearing his sheep. Rachel also steals one of Laban’s idols. Three days after leaving, Laban is told and pursues them. The day before he catches up, G-d comes to Laban in a dream and tells him to leave Jacob alone. Laban confronts Jacob for leaving so abruptly and Jacob counters that he would not be so gracious to let him leave. He then accuses him of stealing his idol. Jacob invites him to search and Rachel had hidden it under her seat by tells him she can’t get up because she is with the period of women. Jacob then confronts Laban about how he was honest but Laban changed his wages “hundreds of times”. Laban then offers a pact of non-aggression with Jacob.