This weekly blog series, published on Fridays, features insights from WRJ leaders on the Torah portions from a women's perspective. Enhance your Torah learning and understanding by adding Voices to your reading list.
Sometimes, I sit back and wonder about how I got involved in WRJ. I think my story is like that of many other members. The story of this week’s parashah, Shemot, relates to my journey, and perhaps yours, in finding a place in WRJ.
The parashah begins
Just when we need it the most, we come to Vayechi. We are closing the chapter on 2020, a year filled with division, death, and destruction. Everything we knew, everything we did—STOPPED! There were no Onegs. No gatherings. No coffee meetups.
Parashah Vayigash is the culmination of the drama between Joseph, son of Jacob, and his brothers. In a pique of hatred and jealousy, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and had him carried off to Egypt when he was 17 years old.
Vayigash begins years
Joseph, one of our more famous Biblical heroes, performs center stage again in Mikeitz, this weekly parashah, as the great dream interpreter brought from jail to listen to the daunting Pharaoh’s dreams and deduce their meaning.
In a society where women lack power and influence, how can they create change and get people to follow the correct path? That is the question that confronted Tamar in this week’s Torah portion, Vayeishev. Tamar married Judah’s oldest son, Er.