Posts by Julia Blum

 Chol Hamoed We are still within the “intermediate days of Sukkot” (Feast of Tabernacles), and it’s probably a good time to clarify this expression: what does it actually mean when we say, Chol Hamoed (“intermediate days of Sukkot”)? In Leviticus 23, we read about Moadei Adonai – the Biblical Feasts, the special times of the […]

My dear readers, you may remember that my Rosh Hashanah post this year was called: “Between the past and the future”.  I believe this title would be appropriate for each of these Fall Festivals: while they all are reminders of something that had happened or had been commanded by God – at the same time, […]

We are approaching the most solemn day of the Israel calendar – Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In previous years I have written about the spiritual significance of this special Day—about the liturgy and Torah reading of Yom Kippur (you can find these articles in the archives of this blog). This year, however, I’ve […]

Biblical Background Rosh Hashanah is a two-day celebration, which begins on the first day of the Jewish month of Tishrei (usually falling in September). “Rosh” is the Hebrew word for “head,” “ha” is the definite article (“the”), and “shanah” means year. Thus Rosh HaShanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה‎,), means Head [of] the Year, referring to the Jewish new year […]

Family Dynamics As Isaac grew older the complicated structure of his family started to become a reality in his world: he realized that his old parents, as kind and loving as they were, could not play with him at all. It is at this point that he probably turned his attention to that really cool […]

Ishmael – Son of Promise? We have seen so much pain of this woman already – but think about this long-dreaded day when Hagar’s baby was born. Of course, Abraham’s joy knew no bounds. Of course, Hagar was extremely happy, as well. Clearly, only Sarah did not share in this joy. At that point, she […]

Why? Last time, we saw Sarah make her painful decision. Why did she do it at that particular time—after ten years of living in the Land? What happened that triggered this scheme? The Midrash says: “This is the allotted time for a woman who had lived ten years with her husband and has not borne […]

As we have already noticed, we don’t hear much from Sarah during the first years of her life in the Land. In fact, she doesn’t say anything at all, until the story with Hagar begins. The very first words we hear from Sarah open this story: So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained […]

For Sarah’s Sake Last time, we watched a barren woman obediently and silently following her wandering husband. We remember that Abram, being 75 years old, did something amazing: when called to go, he… obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.[1]  Did he expect some sort of reward for this […]

Behind the Curtain We are back to our Biblical portraits series and we now move on to Sarah’s[1] portrait.  We are going to watch and observe Sarah now. The pages are the same, the text is the same, and yet, I think you will be surprised to discover how different our findings will be compared […]