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Parashat Vayera

Genesis 18:1-22:24

In Vayera, God appears to Avraham and the boundaries between heaven and earth grow startlingly close. The parashah moves from hospitality and compassion to the moral challenge of Sodom, and finally to the terrifying test of the Akedah. It asks how one can hold together faith, ethics, love, and obedience in the face of overwhelming demands.

  • The Contradictory God

    In Parashat Vayera

    Avraham is the prototype of every Jew. And his greatest trial is what is experienced by all Jews: the impossibility of identifying God in terms of consistency and goodness.

  • The Merit of Isaac’s Ashes

    By Calev Ben-Dor

    The theme of ashes, (efer / עפר) plays a role in two stories in this week’s parsha. Abraham uses the term when entering into negotiation with God to spare the city of S’dom. The other mention of ashes is in the Akeida, where Abraham is commanded to take his beloved son Isaac to Mount Moriah and offer him as an olah, a burnt offering. The story not only fascinated traditional commentators but modern Israeli and Zionist thinkers too. What does this story mean for us today?