Avraham Burg
By Avraham Burg
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Culture Chayei Sarah—The Life of Sarah
Genesis 23:1–25:18 The Strength to Concede Chayei Sarah, The Life of Sarah, is an interesting portion. It’s not unusual to find that a portion of the Scripture dealing with death begins with a word connected to life. Thus “The Life of Sarah” deals with the death of the matriarch at age one hundred twenty-seven; similiarly,…
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Culture Vayera — He Appeared
Genesis 18:1–22:24 You Shall Hear the Cry of the Oppressed The thought of commenting on Parashat Vayera immediately prompts the desire to write something soothing, to get away from the binding of Isaac, the destruction of Sodom and the strange story of Sarah’s strange pregnancy. The portion has other, gentler lessons to teach – for…
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Culture Lech Lecha — Get Thee Out
Genesis 12:1–17:27 Abraham, Defender of the Fledgling Faith The culture of the Christian West, the culture of the Muslim world and the culture of the Jewish community are, in the final analysis, the cultures of Abraham. Some call them revealed religions — religions with a central hub that turns on an axis of divine revelation,…
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Culture Noah’s Flour and Abraham’s Torah
Genesis 5:9–11:32 For years I was extremely critical of Noah. I didn’t like his silent character, his failure to open his mouth, to utter even a single word of protest as God stormed across the world in his murderous, watery rage. Unlike Abraham at Sodom, unlike Moses facing the sin of the Golden Calf. I…
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Culture Bereshit — In the Beginning
Genesis 1:1–5:8 He Created Man: Male and Female And so we take in again from the top: “In the beginning….” Bear this in mind: Jewish time is not linear – not in the sad, fatalistic sense of the word. Nor is it circular, coming back around upon itself with depressing regularity. Jewish time is a…
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Opinion A Letter to My Palestinian Friends
My resume is no secret. My mother was born in Hebron in 1921, a seventh generation Hebron Jew. I am the eighth generation. My family’s deep link to the City of the Patriarchs was cruelly severed in the summer of 1929, when rioters chanting “Kill the Jew” slaughtered half my family. The other half —…
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News A Failed Israeli Society Collapses While Its Leaders Remain Silent
The Zionist revolution has always rested on two pillars: a just path and an ethical leadership. Neither of these is operative any longer. The Israeli nation today rests on a scaffolding of corruption, and on foundations of oppression and injustice. As such, the end of the Zionist enterprise is already on our doorstep. There is…
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