Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Being in Israel with the keen sight of Abraham and the physical presence of Jacob.
Parashat Vayetzei opens with Jacob’s flight from the Land of Israel. As a result of his deception and betrayal, Jacob is forced to flee from the murderous intent of his brother Esau. His parents, Isaac and Rebekah, urge him to return to the “old country,” where he will hopefully find both a worthy mate and a better future. The fear and uncertainty surrounding Jacob’s journey lead to the mysterious episode with which the parashah opens.
Genesis 28 narrates, “Jacob came upon a certain place and stopped there for the night . . . Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head . . . He had a dream; a stairway was set . . . and angels of God were ascending and descending.”
Strikingly, God reiterates the promise of the inheritance of the land to Jacob and his descendants, a vow made to his grandfather before: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac: the ground on which you are lying I will assign to you and your offspring.”
Yet, on closer examination of the divine promise, we discover a subtle but dramatic difference between God’s promise to Abraham and the promise to Jacob. God tells Abraham, “Lift up your eyes and see the place where you are . . . for all of this land I will give to you and to your seed for eternity” (Gen. 13:14–15). What is the qualitative nature of these two promises? And how may we derive meaning from them today, especially with regard to our own relationship with Israel?
Meir Shalev, prolific and poetic modern Israeli author, comments on the difference between these promises in his remarkable work Reishit (In the Beginning), a book about the first occurrences of various events and phenomena in the Torah. Shalev writes that the essence of Abraham’s promise is connected to the eye (sight and seeing); Jacob’s promise is connected to his body (the physical connection of his body resting on the land). To be sure, Shalev writes,
[T]he eye beholds a vast area that is far greater than the body which rests on a small parcel of land. But seeing does not involve the same intimacy as physically resting upon something. From here we see that Abraham had a fleeting, distant and relatively cold relationship to the Land of Israel—distant and abstract—as only the sense of sight could impart. In sharp contrast we have the figure of Jacob—who had complete and direct contact with the land—contact between the land and his body, between man and the soil of the earth. (Reishit, 35 [translated from the Hebrew])
In many ways, we are witness to the paradox of the promise of the Land. Despite the promise given to Abraham, Jacob is forced to flee as a result of tragic familial circumstances. Still, Meir Shalev’s keen sensitivity and literary eye leads us to a deeper understanding of the differing relationships of our ancestors to the Land of Israel. While Abraham’s was one of sight and relative distance, Jacob’s was one of contact and physical connection. This remarkable reading teaches us a great deal about our own relationships with the Land of Israel.
While it is important to keep our eyes upon the Jewish homeland, seeing from a distance is insufficient. We need to become part of the story. The way we become part of this modern day miracle is by making ourselves physically present in the land. Living in Israel is indeed a sacred endeavor and treasured mitzvah, and frequent visits to Israel are no less important and vital to energize the Israel-Diaspora relationship.
At Schechter Institutes, we just wrapped up a magnificent 40th Anniversary Israel Mission. We hosted some twenty-three participants from all over the US and a couple from Australia!
Some highlights of the week included a very inspiring visit to a TALI school in Ma’ale Adumim, a tour of special collections at the National Library combined with a moving talk with Eyal and Ilana Kaminka who lost their son Yannai on October 7 (a commander on the Zikim base; he saved ninety new recruits as he, along with other commanders, battled Hamas terrorists); a visit with President Herzog; the dedication of our new library and administration building; a spirited and beautiful ordination ceremony for our newly minted rabbis; showcasing our partnership with Ofakim; bearing witness at Kfar Azza and taking in the devastation and memorials at the Re’im-Nova Festival site; and then Friday-Shabbat at Neve Schechter.
Needless to say, it was a meaningful and transformative experience. May we live with the keen sight of Abraham and the physical connection of Jacob—continually strengthening our ties and bonds to the promised homeland of Israel.
Praying for a speedy return of our hostages & an end to this war on all fronts, and wishing you all a
Shabbat Shalom from Israel
Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz, an accomplished educator and artist, brings decades of experience in development to his position. From 1999 to 2008, he served as JTS’s Senior Rabbinic Fellow based in NY and Florida, responsible for cultivating and expanding the donor base and teaching adult learning study groups throughout the United States. From 2009, he served as Director of Israel Programs for JTS working closely with rabbinical and cantorial students to significantly enrich their Israel experience.
He is a founding partner of Kol HaOt studio project in Jerusalem’s Artist Lane — which weaves the arts deeply into Jewish learning.
Rabbi Berkowitz is the author and illuminator of the widely used The Lovell Haggadah published by Schechter in 2008.
Matt is a Wexner Graduate fellow alumnus and serves on the faculty of The Wexner Heritage Program.
He is married to Nadia Levene and the proud father of three children.
