When I was in elementary school, my teachers graded the students on a scale of zero to four. Roughly translated, these number grades corresponded to the standard letter grades: zero was an F, one was equivalent to a D, two was C, and a grade of three was the same as a B. However, a four did not necessarily imply the same grade, as did an A in other settings. At my elementary school, I only earned a four on an assessment if I demonstrated the capacity to apply the newly learned knowledge or skill beyond the initial setting of the lesson. Read more...

It is one of the first and most powerful responsibilities given to those of us who are parents: give that child a name. Is it any surprise that the various streams of Jewish culture, and other cultures as well, have folk traditions that offer guidance for this process (so, for example, Ashkenazi Jews often name children for deceased relatives, while Sefaradim name for grandparents and other living relatives)? Moreover, the moment when the name is bestowed is often ritualized. Read more...

"Jacob kept Laban the Aramean in the dark, not telling him that he was fleeing, and fled with all that he had." (Genesis 31:20) Read more...

Our Torah portion is so full of "highlights" and stories that create "bestsellers" that the first verse of our portion, "And Ya'akov leaves Be'er Sheva, and goes to Charan" seems to get lost before you even know that it existed. Read more...

Many of us have had Jacob moments, but luckily not a Jacob life. We've had to leave home in order to get on track. Sometimes home is not safe, or it's too safe to do the hard work of creating a life worth living. What is a life worth living? What is the hard work required to become who we were meant to or could be?  What specifically is the role of promises in how we develop our identities and our life narrative?  What is the role of family, friends, adversaries, and God in our defining how we want to live, and creating a legacy we want to leave? Read more...