Welcome to Temple Beth Ami
Welcome To Temple Beth Ami
  • Home Page
  • About Us
    • Clergy
    • Staff
    • Leadership
    • Membership
    • 50th Anniversary
    • Policies and Inclusion
    • Contact Us
    • Rentals
    • History
    • Events
    • Judaica Shop
  • Jewish Life
    • Shabbat
    • Holidays and Festivals
    • Lifecycle
      • Bereavement
      • Birth
      • B’nei Mitzvah
      • Confirmation and Graduation
      • Marriage
      • TBA Cares
    • Israel
    • Torah Blog
  • Education
    • Early Childhood
    • Machane TBA (Religious School)
    • Summer Programs
      • Gan Ami Summer Program
        (Age 2 – Pre-K)
      • Kayitz 2023
        (Grades K-7)
    • Adult Education
  • Get Involved
    • Monthly Calendar of Events
      • January 2023
      • February 2023
    • Social Action
      • Tikkun Olam Committee
      • Love Thy Neighbor
        (Addressing Racial Injustice)
      • Community of Action
      • Critical Issues Forum:
        Advocacy for Social Justice
    • Jewish Book Council Events
    • TBA TV
    • Social Groups
    • Member Support
  • Donate
  • Contact Us
  • Members
    • ShulCloud
    • Financial Assistance
    • B’nei Mitzvah Preparation
    • Judaica Shop
    • Events

Events Calendar

« February 2023 » loading...
S M T W T F S
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
1
2
3
4
Fri 03

Meaning & Mensches: A Family Shabbat Experience
Fri. Feb. 3 (6:30pm)

February 3 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Sat 04

Torah Study
Saturdays 9 am – 10 am

February 4 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Sat 04

Shabbat Morning Service
Celebrating the Bar Mitzvah of Nick Palanker
Sat. Feb. 4 (10:30am)

February 4 @ 10:30 am - 11:30 am
Sun 05

Back to Basics course
Sunday mornings (10-11:30 am)
Taught by Rabbi Pokras & Rabbi Weiss

February 5 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Sun 05

WTBA Winter & Spring Virtual Yoga

February 5 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

VaYishlach – 5779
Genesis 32:4 – 36:43 

Words matter. Language frames, well, everything.  

When we study a foreign language, we learn not only the words, but the culture of the people who speak them. For this reason, it is incredibly difficult if not impossible to translate literature from one language to another without losing something along the way. 

As American Jews, we speak English. However, English is not the language of Judaism. It is a language steeped in Christianity. That’s why I prefer not to use words like “Jew” or “Judaism.” To understand who we really are, we need to turn to the language of our people, to Hebrew.  

The story of how we got our Hebrew name can be found in VaYishlach. In this week’s parasha Jacob escapes with his family from the clutches of Laban only to learn that Esau is approaching with four hundred armed men. The last time Jacob saw Esau was twenty-one years before, when he fled the camp because Esau was determined to kill him. Fearing violence in the morning, Jacob splits his family into four separate camps, hoping that at least some may escape and survive. Then something really strange happens. Jacob spends the night alone on the far side of the Jabbok river, where a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. Who was this man? Where did he come from? The text says nothing. Then, as the sun began to rise, the man asks Jacob to release him because the sun was rising. Why would that matter? The weirdness continues when Jacob refuses, demanding that the man bless him first. Of all the things Jacob might say at that moment, why ask for a blessing? Yet, the man does not find the request at all strange. The dialogue continues: 

“And he [the man] said to him [Jacob], ‘What is your name?’ And he said, “Jacob.” And he said, ‘Not Jacob shall your name hence be said, but Israel, for you have striven with God and men, and prevailed.’” [Gen. 32:28-9] 

The interpretive tradition is clear, and Jacob admits as much a few verses later: Jacob did not struggle with a man that night, but with something else – either God or a messenger from God. The Hebrew word Yisrael means “struggle with God.” Over the course of the night, Jacob was transformed from Ya’akov, which means “heel,” to Yisrael, the one who struggled with God and prevailed. We are B’nei Yisrael, the children of the one who struggled with God. Our tradition is not one of blind faith, but of struggle, for we are Jacob’s spiritual and genetic descendants.. We encourage questioning, challenging, probing. In the Torah itself, not even God is immune for questioning or challenge!  

This, I think, is a source of our resilience; our relentless questioning of ourselves, our institutions and our faith; our ability to change, adapt and evolve while staying true to our ideals and values; our drive for integrity even when the world seems a dark place.  

Our spirituality, our mission, is not “touchy-feely” but to struggle for a higher cause, and to prevail. 

Torah Blog Archives

  • BeShallach (Shabbat Shira) 5783  Ex. 13:17 – 17:16 
  • Bo 5783 Exodus 10:1 – 13:16 
  • VaEra 5783  Exodus 6:2 – 9:35 
  • Shemot 5779  Exodus 1:1 – 6:1 
  • VaYigash – 5783  Genesis 44:18 – 47:27
  • Miketz – 5783 
    Genesis 41:1—42:27 

  • VaYeishev – 5779  Genesis 37:1 – 40:23
  • VaYishlach – 5779  Genesis 32:4 – 36:43 
  • Toledot – 5780  Genesis 25:19 – 28:9 
  • Chayei Sarah – 5780  Genesis 23:1 – 25:18 
  • VaYeira – 5779  Genesis 18:1 – 22:24
  • Lech Lecha – 5779  Genesis 12:1 – 17:27
  • Noach – 5778  Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 
  • Bereshit – 5779 Genesis 1:1 – 6:8
  • Ki Tavo (Selichot) 5872  Deut. 26:1 – 29:8 
  • Ki Tetze 5872  Deut. 21:10 – 25:19 
  • Shoftim 5872 Deut. 16:18 – 21:9
  • Re’eh 5782  Duet. 11:26-16:17 
  • Ekev 5872  Deut. 7:12 – 11:25 
  • VaEtchanan 5872  Deut. 3:23 – 7:11 
Powered by

RJ Web Builder 3.0

Shop and support Temple Beth Ami
Amazon Logo
Contact the Webmaster with questions or comments about this site
Temple Beth Ami, 14330 Travilah Road Rockville MD, 20850
301-340-6818