Sign In Forgot Password

Rabbi's Message, Shabbat Vayetzei

11/12/2021 12:25:41 PM

Nov12

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels

This week, we began our in-person, after-school, Teen Torah study with Rabbi Samuels for Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers who attend public school. It was wonderful to once again hear in a Torah class in our Shul building with tween and teen voices laughing and sharing insightful comments and opinions. Our Middle School class will study Jewish Leadership Models this Fall/Winter, beginning with Avraham Avinu. We are investigating the question, “Why was Avraham chosen, and/or what led him to search for and discover God?” Our High Schoolers will be studying Jewish Views on “The Good Society.” We begin with a study of “bad societies” in Sefer Bereishit, that Hashem didn’t allow to endure - i.e., the generation of the flood, the tower of Bavel, and S’dom va’Amora. It is much easier to identify what doesn’t work than to create a governing structure of what will work. One could say that the human and Jewish experiment in creating the Good Society is still very much a work in progress. In both classes, we seek to find resonant meaning for our own times and lives in our Jewish textual tradition. 

Shabbat shalom, Rav Benjie

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784