Vayera

The Sin of Sodom and Its Impact on Creation

By RABBI YUVAL CHERLOW
(Translated from the original Hebrew by Ariel Shalem)

This Torah portion provides deep insights into living in balance with one’s environment. The people of Sodom’s perverted ways, in effect, were extremely unsustainable, causing God to turn one of the most fertile and lush ecosystems on Earth into what today is infamous for its barrenness and desolation. From the mistakes of the people of Sodom we can learn the essential character traits that allow one to live in balance with the Creator and creation.

Share the Blessing and the Bounty

By EVAN WOLKENSTEIN

The ethical imperative to enact tikkun olam is upon us, not God. We are bound not to perpetrate injustice against the marginalized. We are even expected to prevent violence against them. But even more so, we are bound by an imperative to share the blessing and bounty that benefit us. We, the privileged, must realize that our destiny is bound to our brothers.  All the power, all the wealth in the coffers of the privileged cannot purchase peace in the absence of justice and equity.

Turning From the Presence of God

By RABBI DAVID ROSENN

A person reciting the Amidah prayer should not interrupt it “even if a King greeted him, or even if a snake wound around his ankle.” What if you were praying the Amidah, and a person asked you for change?

Reach Out and Touch Someone

By RABBI CHERYL PERETZ

As long as people are sick, there is a need to help ease their pain, physical and spiritual.