On Tuesday evening, a group of Portland area clergy had a virtual town hall meeting with Governor Tina Kotek. Given recent changes in immigration status and rules per the new administration in Washington, DC, there is tremendous confusion, fear, anger, and anxiety.
The twilight of bein hashemashot, the ambiguous time between day and night, evokes a profound sense of uncertainty and anxiety. For the Sages of the Talmud, this liminal moment posed Jewish legal challenges—a space neither fully day nor fully night, a realm where duties could be misunderstood or incorrectly performed. Their solution was to eliminate the ambiguity by assigning bein hashemashot to either day or night, depending on what ensured that halachic obligations would be met without error.
In Pirkei Avot, a book of maxims in the Mishnah, an ancient rabbi, Ben Bag-Bag said about Torah study, “Hafokh bah, va’Hafokh vah, d’khola bah.” Turn it over and over, for everything is in it. For two thousand years, that’s what Jews have done. Here is another turning.
In Pirkei Avot, a book of maxims in the Mishnah, an ancient rabbi, Ben Bag-Bag said about Torah study, “Hafokh bah, va’Hafokh vah, d’khola bah.” Turn it over and over, for everything is in it. For two thousand years, that’s what Jews have done. Here is another turning.
In Pirkei Avot, a book of maxims in the Mishnah, an ancient rabbi, Ben Bag-Bag said about Torah study, “Hafokh bah, va’Hafokh vah, d’khola bah.” Turn it over and over, for everything is in it. For two thousand years, that’s what Jews have done. Here is another turning.
In Pirkei Avot, a book of maxims in the Mishnah, an ancient rabbi, Ben Bag-Bag said about Torah study, “Hafokh bah, va’Hafokh vah, d’khola bah.” Turn it over and over, for everything is in it. For two thousand years, that’s what Jews have done. Here is another turning.
Does hope depend on progress? If it does, we are likely to experience despair whenever things move backward. Hope is not only possible but especially necessary when a society seems to regress. This week’s Torah portion, Vayeshev, offers an opportunity to examine this concept in light of disturbing contemporary issues.
