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).
Stories of Isaac and Esau are well known. Isaac, in the week’s portion, does not go to Egypt in a time of famine. Why?
Isaac is our only forefather who spends his entire life in the Land of Israel.
This is significant: because Isaac is the son of immigrants, who themselves left ארץ ישראל when a famine struck the land, in pursuit of food security. It is a natural instinct for anyone to move elsewhere in pursuit of any type of security, and certainly for someone whose roots in the land are only just beginning to take.
However, God identifies that Isaac is headed to Egypt and immediately addresses him and says: “Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I will tell you. Live in this land and I will be with you and bless you” (Genesis 26:2-3)
This leap of faith by Isaac, contrasted by both Abraham AND Jacob’s choices to follow a perceived notion of security to Egypt, is possibly the most impressive choice Isaac made.
The story of Isaac’s life is far less detailed in scripture than that of his father and his son, but this little bit of information is such an important example for us.
This decision, to stay in place and endure, is also contrasted by Isaac’s son – Esau, עשו – who is criticized both by the simple reading of the text and by Rabbinic tradition, for selling his birthright for a bowl of stew.
The midrash (Tanhuma, Pesikta Rabbati, and others) criticizes Esau endlessly, and says that because he belittled the status of firstborn, his descendants – Amalek – were beaten at war by Yehoshua, the descendent of Jacob’s (almost) youngest son – Joseph. This midrash perhaps also alludes to a further descendent of Amalek – Agag – falling into the hands of King Saul, descendent of Jacob’s actual youngest son, Benjamin.
Esau is extreme in his haste to give into his urges for comfort and physical satisfaction: When Jacob suggests the transaction, Esau says: “I am at the point of dying (of hunger…) What good to me is my birthright?” (Genesis 25:32)
Esau overdramatizes the situation and is controlled by his urge. His nihilistic approach to life ignores the value of legacy and purpose, that sometimes require discomfort in order to achieve – I am dying, so nothing matters.
This is in contrast to Isaac’s agreement to stay put despite hunger, and endure, in order to achieve Godly promise and purpose.
A dear friend of mine, who came to Israel as a child with her family from the Former Soviet Union, whose father and grandfather had been imprisoned in Siberia because of their Judaism and Zionism, recently said to me:
It’s so difficult right now. But we are done running.
We are Isaac’s children, not Esau. We will endure the hardships, because beyond them lie our values and purpose.
We are staying.
Shavua Tov from Schechter
image: Rijksmuseum, Crispijn van de Passen 1700-50, engraving (wikicommons)
Rabbi Chaya Rowen Baker, Dean, The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary.
Ordained in 2007 by the Schechter Rabbinical Seminary, Rabbi Rowen Baker has served, since her ordination, as the rabbi of Kehillat Ramot-Zion in French Hill, Jerusalem. Ramot Zion, a flagship Masorti congregation, is home to many Israelis in search of a meaningful connection to Jewish tradition in a rapidly changing world. For the past eight years, she has served as Coordinator of Practical Rabbinics at SRS.
Much of Rabbi Rowen Baker’s work is done outside the synagogue space, with those not accustomed to synagogue life, so as to make accessible a vibrant Jewish approach and practice which is part of all walks of life. In 2015 she was the first Masorti rabbi – and the first ever female rabbi – to be invited to teach Torah at the Israeli President’s residence.
Rabbi Rowen Baker holds an MA with Distinction in Talmud and Jewish Thought from The Schechter Institute, and a BA in Jewish History and Archeology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a fellow at the Honey Foundation for Israel and a member of the Rabbinical Assembly Executive Council.
Rabbi Rowen Baker lives in French Hill, Jerusalem with her husband Etai, their four children and their dog Hummus.
