Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary

Weekly Torah Portion

Parashat Vayera 18:1 – 22:24.

The parashah begins with Avraham sitting outside his open tent. Three guests arrive at Avraham and Sarah’s tent and our first patriarch and matriarch model the mitzvah of hasnachat orchim – welcoming guests by inviting them in for a meal. The guests inform Avraham that God will give the elderly Sarah a child. The prophesy comes true, and they name their son Yitzhak. God informs Avraham that the city of Sodom and Gemorrah will be destroyed, though Avraham attempts to convince God otherwise. God tells Avraham to sacrifice Isaac. Avraham follows God’s request but is told that it was a test of faith and offers a ram to sacrifice instead.

Family discussion:

Welcoming guests and strangers: Why do you think the Torah is concerned with welcoming guests and strangers? Who are the guests and strangers in our own lives, communities, and country? How can we welcome them?
To obey or to question? To challenge or submit? Or to do both? Abraham questions the justice of God’s proposed destruction of the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet he also follows God’s instruction to offer up Yitzhak as a sacrifice, without question. What might we learn from these two conflicting approaches?

Year 4 Jewish Studies – learning about מידות and being a mensch

In Jewish Studies, students are thinking about what it means to be mensch – a good, kind, honourable, decent person. We are exploring different מידות – middot – Jewish virtues and characteristics in Jewish tradition and how they relate to our world today. After thinking about how and why we might learn to be a mensch, students identified middot they thought most important for being a good person.