Parashat ha-Shavua

Parashat Vayetze (‘ and he went out’)                                                  By Shelley Wood Gauld

Gen 25:19-28:9, Hos 11:7-14:9, John 1:19-51

Friday 18 October 2013                                                    Cheshvan 14 5774

Parashat No’ach

Genesis 6:9 - 11:32; Isaiah 54:1 - 55:5; Matthew 24:36-44

No’ach, the namesake and focus of this week's parsha, seems at first glance quite contradictory. On one hand, the Torah explicitly testifies in the beginning of the parsha that No’ach was perfectly righteous, and he alone merited to be saved from the destruction which befell his contemporaries. Everyone alive today is descended from him and exists only in his merit.

Parashat Ha'azinu
Deuteronomy 32:1 - 32:51; Hosea 14:2-10; Acts 24–26

The Torah portion is a song, a poem taught to the Jewish people by Moshe. It recounts the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people during the 40 years in the desert. Jewish consciousness, until the present generation, was to teach every Jewish child to memorize Ha'azinu. In this manner we internalized the lessons of our history, especially the futility of rebelling against the Almighty.