Parashat Hashavua – Page 2 – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

December 25, 2025

Negotiations and Love Songs (Parashat Vayiggash 5782)

This was the D’var Torah I gave for Parashat Vayiggash in 5782, on December 11, 2021. Some of what I said then was specific to that moment in the Covid-19 pandemic, but I’m leaving that in now as an example of the broader themes and messages of my D’var Torah. On Paul Simon’s 1983 album… Continue reading

Anger, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Negotiation, Parashat Hashavua, Speech Ethics, Torah, Vayiggash

December 25, 2025

Retelling Our Stories (Parashat Vayiggash 5785)

This was the D’var Torah I shared for Parashat Vayiggash, a culmination of the story of Yosef (Joseph), on January 4, 2025. My father has a number of go-to sayings, one of which is: The story is never over. Another is a quote from possibly Mitch Album quoting someone else who said: There is no… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Foregiveness, Israel, Parashat Hashavua, Torah, Vayiggash

December 14, 2025

Hope From the Pits

This is the D’var Torah I shared on Shabbat, December 13, 2025, for Parashat Vayeshev just before the first candle of Chanukkah 5786. On Thursday, I spent a good part of an hour staring at images of specific chanukkiot. It’s a bit early to be doing that — Chanukkah doesn’t start until tomorrow evening —… Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Holidays, Hope, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, USA, Vayeshev

December 10, 2025

Rebellion

This was a D’var Torah from 5777 (2016), for Parashat Vayeshev and the beginning of Chanukkah. Chanukkah starts tonight, the story of the Maccabean Revolt. It seems crazy to be talking about rebellion in December. This is a time when people want to curl up, stay inside, and keep warm. It’s a time when people… Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Holidays, Parashat Hashavua, Vayeshev

December 10, 2025

From the “Archives”: Parashat Vayeshev and the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s Assassination

I am updating my site with what I take to be interesting Divrei Torah (“sermons”) of mine that I hadn’t shared before. This one, connected with the Torah reading of the current week, I shared in November 2013. As I studied this parasha in light of all the commemorations of President Kennedy this week, I… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Dreams/Dreaming, History, Inclusion, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Power, USA, Vayeshev

November 6, 2025

Before the Flood: A D’var Torah About Noach

This was my D’var Torah a couple weeks ago, about Parashat Noach and the lead-up to the Flood, on October 25, 2025. I’m late in sharing it. One way to look at the big arcs of the Torah is as a series of thought experiments. Each big story is a version of the world or… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Ethics, Midrash, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Speech Ethics, Torah, Yonah

October 31, 2025

Parashat Lech L’cha — The Journey and the Destination

This Shabbat in services we will discuss what we think about the oft-cited idea that “life is not about the destination but the journey.” Do we agree? When is or isn’t that true? How does Lech L’cha, the charge to Avraham to go forth, map onto or differ from the conventional journey idea? Here is a study… Continue reading

Lech L’cha, Parashat Hashavua, Youth

October 23, 2025

The Baal Shem Tov: The Ark as a Metaphor for a Word of Prayer

I taught this for Parashat Noach in 5781 (2020), sometime after accidentally stumbling into this teaching in a book of the Baal Shem Tov’s comments about the Torah. In the section on Noach, he inserts a long treatise on prayer. I want to share a teaching of the Baal Shem Tov about tefillah, about prayer,… Continue reading

Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Prayer, Spirituality, Theology, Torah

October 23, 2025

During the Flood, Inside the Ark — Learning From Bonhoeffer and the Freiburg School

This was my D’var Torah about Parashat Noach in 5783 (2022). This Torah reading centers on the Flood. This teaching here is about “during the Flood”, and at the end I discourage us from seeing our era as sliding toward the Flood. If we do see it that way, we still might ask the question… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Economics, Ethics, Holocaust, Hope, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Leadership, Noach, Noah, Parashat Hashavua, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek

October 17, 2025

What Vivian Paley Taught Me About Parashat Bereshit

Here is my D’var Torah for Parashat Bereshit back in 5782 (2021). ***** This is the book of the stories of humanity — on the day God created humanity, in the divine image did God create it, male and female God created them. (Genesis 5:1) “We must talk about cleanup,” I say one day at… Continue reading

Bereshit, Education, Equality, Ethics, Parashat Hashavua, Teacher-Student Relationship, Youth

October 17, 2025

Hava Amina: What Tzelem Elohim (Image of God) Is Rebutting

This is the D’var Torah I gave in 2022 for Parashat Bereshit, the opening chapters of the Torah in the annual weekly cycle. I am leaving it here with one contemporary reference I made at the time that might sound different today. I also may update this as my D’var Torah for this Shabbat (I… Continue reading

Bereshit, Equality, History, Midrash, Parashat Hashavua, Youth

October 3, 2025

My Annual Ode to Another Time Through the Whole Torah

From the intensity of Yom Kippur — I hope it was meaningful for those who observe it — this Shabbat is the final time we read the regular weekly Torah portion without a festival. Here is what I’ll say about that in services tomorrow, a version of my annual ode to this incredible syndicated serial… Continue reading

Calendar, Haazinu, Parashat Hashavua, Simchat Torah, Torah, Yamim Noraim