Vayera

Here are some of the Big Ideas you may want to explore in this week's parasha.

1. Women in the Torah often act on their own, even though they live in a deeply patriarchical society (Sarah and Hagar, Lot's daughters).
2. It's hard to be a good person when the people around you are evil people (Lot living in Sedom faces ethical challenges).
3. Some stories seem to be worth telling more than once (Avraham says Sarah is his sister, not his wife; Noah and Lot both get drunk with bad outcomes; Avraham and Lot both welcome visitors; the world appears to be destroyed in the eyes of Noah and in those of Lot's daughters). Sometimes the meanings are similar, sometimes there are differences.

Here are some of the questions you might want to ask yourself and your students:

1. How can you be a good person when there is evil around you?
2. Can one person alone change the world? Explain your answer.
3. Often we have upsetting experiences with our family or friends. What can we do to get past these and repair relationships?

Akeidah

In an article in the NY Times today entitled Lessons in a Life Well Lived, and Values Upheld there is a charming quotation from the wife of the subject, Alice Hartman Henkin, who writes

A guarantee you that if Abraham had been ordered to sacrifice his grandson, he would have said, "Buzz off"

VaYera

The story about Abraham welcoming his visitors is well-entrenched as part of Jewish wisdom.  We should be hospitable, yada, yada.  There are probably still cultures in which this sort of absolute and unquestioning hospitality is still the norm - but they're not the culture we live in.  If a stranger comes to your door you are more likely to call 911 than to break out the food and drinks, and with good reason.
We understand that reaction, but it's still sad that we have such fears, justified though they may be.  Fortunately there are settings in which we can be more open to new relationships, as expressed in this commentary at Ten Minutes of Torah:  VaYeira, 5771

Please be sure to click on Vayera in the labels column for more suggestion for thinking about this week's parasha.   Also, remember to check Parsha 4 Kids for a ready-to-go trigger you can use with middle school or high school students.  And feel free to comment on the idea at either site, yourself or with your students.

Vayera

We learned a lot about the power of words in the first few portions of the Torah. We learned that words can create whole worlds, that they can harm, they can confuse, they can clarify, they can be a source of unity or of divisiveness. This parasha can be seen to expand on that theme.

Words can change the world, as suggested in this commentary from the Jewish Coalition for Service.

Words can be only the surface - real meaning involves deeper listening, as you can read here. What does it mean to really listen?

Words can be misunderstood, as suggested in this commentary from United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. What if Abraham didn't hear God correctly?

Finally, back to the power of words, what can we learn from the use of the phrase "lech lecha" here, when God is telling Abraham to take his son to Moriah? Haven't we heard this phrase before? Where? Compare and contrast the two places it is used.

Once again we are faced with a parasha which could easily be studied over the course of weeks. If you are teaching parshat hashavua in you classroom, which of the stories in this parasha will you choose? Why?