Vayeshev – Rabbi Jon 's Website and Blog

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

February 10, 2025

A Year of Jewish Ethics #10: Teshuvah

One of the most fundamental Jewish ethical practices is teshuvah. Teshuvah is the word that’s often translated as “repentance” and is too often just associated in people’s minds with the season of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Yamim Nora’im or Days of Awe. The word teshuvah has a broader meaning of “going back” or… Continue reading

A Year of Jewish Ethics, Bereshit, Ethics, Maimonides, Middot, Miketz, Parashat Hashavua, Teshuvah, Vayeshev, Vayiggash, Young Jewish Adult, Youth

December 15, 2011

Parashat Vayeshev: Tim Tebow, Meet Yosef

Here was the thing about Yosef: No matter what, God was with him, and he prospered. Yosef was left by his brothers, and brought to Egypt and sold. As soon as he arrived in the house of Potiphar, an official of the Pharaoh, "Adonai was with Yosef, and he became a prosperous person, and so… Continue reading

Parashat Hashavua, Vayeshev