Torah Study Date Saturday, June 19, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 24:17-32 Next Session Saturday, June 26, 2021 Starting at Genesis 24:33 Last week we discussed Rebecca as a strong figure, queering the text by taking an active role, a male role (for the gender expectations of the time), Rebecca not only giving Abraham’s servant […]
Rebecca, the Ensnarer
Torah Study Date Saturday, May 29, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 24:6-16 Next Session Saturday, June 19, 2021 Starting at Genesis 24:17 Last week, we discussed why Abraham did not want his servant to take Isaac back to where Abraham came from (Abraham was not sure Isaac would return? Abraham didn’t want Isaac to be […]
Abraham Plans a Wife for Isaac
Torah Study Date Saturday, May 15, 2021 Verses Covered Genesis 23:17-24:5 Next Session Saturday, May 29, 2021 Starting at Genesis 24:6 Last week, we discussed Abraham’s purchase of field, cave and tree being established as a purchase in the eyes of all the children of Heth (meaning that it was established widely and publicly as […]
Sarah’s Death and Burial
Torah Study Date Saturday, May 8, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 22:19-23:16 Next Session Saturday, May 15, 2021 Starting at Genesis 23:17 Last week we started a new parsha, Chayei Sarah (The Life of Sarah). First, we learned that Abraham and his servants went back to Beer-sheva and Abraham lived there, that Abraham’s brother Nahor’s […]
Abraham, Isaac and the Ram
Torah Study Date Saturday, May 1, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 22:9-18 Next Session Saturday, May 8, 2021 Starting at Genesis 22:19 Last week we continued discussing the Akedah with Abraham and Isaac reaching Mt. Moriah, the place of which God had told them, Abraham building an altar, laying out the wood, binding his son, […]
Wrestling with the Akedah
Torah Study Date Saturday, April 10, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 22:7-8 Next Session Saturday, May 1, 2021 Last session, we went back to the question why Abraham did not argue with God about the command to sacrifice Isaac as he had argued about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Specifically, we wondered whether it […]
Here I Am: God Tests Abraham
Torah Study Date Saturday, April 3, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 22:1-6 Next Session Saturday, April 10, 2021 Last week we discussed God testing Abraham. We noted that God calling Abraham by name indicates something important is about to happen and that in the Samaritan and Greek texts Abraham’s name is called twice (“And God […]
Hagar and Ishmael’s Departure, Abraham’s Pact with Abimelech
This Session Saturday, March 20, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 21:14-34 Next Session Saturday, April 3, 2021 Recently, we discussed the fact that the word for playing in the discussion of Ishmael playing at Genesis 21:9 is related to Isaac’s name–as if the text said not that Sarah saw the son of Hagar playing but […]
Ishmael Plays
Torah Study Date Saturday, March 13, 2021 Torah Study Date Saturday, April 3, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 21:7-13 Next Session Saturday, March 20, 2021 Last week we discussed Isaac growing and being weaned and Abraham making a big feast for him on the day of his weaning, that it might have been traditional in […]
Isaac’s Birth
Torah Study Date Saturday, March 6, 2021 Verses Covered Bereishit (Genesis) 20:14-21:6 Next Session Saturday, March 13, 2021 Last week we finished the story of the encounter between Abraham and Abimelech and began the account of the birth of Isaac. We discussed the gifts that Abimelech gave to Abraham and why he gave them, presumably […]