Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z’l: Lech Lecha On Being a Jewish Parent

Rabbi Sacks writes of Abraham as the most influential man who ever lived; father of many nations…the founder of faith by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We know nothing about him, except that he was singled out by God to become “the father of many nations”. Abraham’s life is centered around his role as a father—waiting for a child, birth of Ishmael, tension between Sarah and Hagar, birth of Isaac and the Akeidah…Fatherhood is everything.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z’l:  Noach A Tale of Four Cities

Rabbi Sacks describes the founding of the first city by Cain as established with bloodshed.  He writes about Romulus and Remus, the former also guilty of fratricide.  Sodom was threatened with destruction by God for terrible crimes, but Abraham fought back.  Egypt – Joseph was falsely accused of a crime after refusing the advances of Potiphar’s wife.  The parashah addresses the story of Babel, where the residents attempted to build a tower that reaches to heaven.  Although this did not incorporate the same criminal activity, its attempt to justify a heavenly hierarchy on earth—the birth of polytheism. 

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat: A Little Bit of a Week

Rabbi Barenblat writes of how can we welcome Shabbat when we are so encumbered with horror and grief? She concludes with the observation that Shabbat is our foretaste of the world to come, before which we must get through the next week of trouble. She continues her blog with observations on Bereishit; the chaos in the beginning, the chaos before the formation of the State of Israel, the chaos that we are witnessing today. She references the sorrow of Cain and Abel, and God’s choice to favor one over the other. She concludes with the observation that we are all each other’s keepers, as Cain should have been for his brother.