Category Archives: Midrash

V’Zot HaTorah…This is the Torah

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

(This poetic essay, like so many of the unpublished writings of Rabbi Sager, z”l, is the beginning of a sicha (conversation). Rabbi Sager eloquently likens his aging body to Torah. He has become a living Torah and suggests that others … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Parshat HaShavuah, Poetry, Torah | 2 Comments

Sea of Memories

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

(A conversation submitted by Ariele Sager Rosen, daughter of Rabbi Steve Sager. Ariele is a Jewish Studies teacher in Israel, where she lives with her family) The world is filled with remembering and forgettingAs it is with sea and dry … Continue reading →

Posted in Blessing, Days of Awe, Memory, Midrash, Poetry, Talmud, Torah | 2 Comments

We Are The Text

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Since ancient times, a ritually prescribed Torah reading—a parasha— has been known by a title taken from the prescribed opening biblical verse. In addition to its conventional designation, some sages have given us the precedent of calling a parasha by … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Parshat HaShavuah, Torah | 7 Comments

Truth Will Spring Up

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

The first few weeks in quarantine were not too difficult. For one thing, we had just returned from Israel and we were tired—and frightened. For another thing, the world seemed painted in pandemic colors and moods: grey and foreboding. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Poetry, Talmud, Torah | Leave a comment

Heroes Who Limp

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Jacob’s midnight assailant was surprised at his adversary’s great strength. He wondered if Jacob might be an angel like himself. Angels have no leg joints, the midrash teaches, so he touched Jacob at the hip to determine whether his opponent’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Angels, Blessing, Midrash, Poetry, Torah | 4 Comments

Naming The Unimaginable

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

At the harrowing end, a ram replaced Yitzhak as the sacrifice; a narrow escape that came only after two divine interventions to divert father Abraham from his unimaginable mission. Generations of rabbinic storytellers imagined even narrower escapes for Yitzhak, placing … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Names, Parshat HaShavuah, Poetry, Torah | Leave a comment

Believe it—And Not

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Noah was lacking in belief, taught the 3rd century teacher, Rabbi Yohanan. If not for the water reaching his ankles, he would not have entered the ark. Lacking in belief? Noah, who fulfilled the twin tasks of building the great … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Parshat HaShavuah, Torah | 4 Comments

Steps, Blessed Be They

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

God is steps, declared Yehuda Amichai. Such an outright assertion about God was unusual for the great Israeli poet. He was fond of similes that invited listeners closer to the mystery without violating the distance that mystery needs. Among his … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Poetry, Prayer, Torah | 1 Comment

How Deep? How High?

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

How much do I love you? I’ll tell you no lie. How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky? Irving Berlin wrote the song, How Deep Is the Ocean? in 1932. It consists mainly of rhetorical questions that point … Continue reading →

Posted in Holidays, Midrash, Passover, Poetry, Torah | Leave a comment

The Walk Is Painful

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

The poet, Muriel Rukeyser, learned from her mother the family tradition that she was a direct descendant of Rabbi Akiba. Muriel carried that legacy into a life of vision and activism, beginning in the 1930’s when she wrote and spoke … Continue reading →

Posted in Midrash, Poetry | 2 Comments