WWOT – Weekly Words of Torah: Parashat Bereishit

To inspire, guide, engage, enrich, and empower Conservative Jewish Women
By Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, Executive Director, Women’s League For Conservative Judaism

One of the hardest things for people to accept is responsibility for something bad. No matter what one’s age or gender is, one is not apt to jump up and take credit for something negative. In this week’s Torah reading of Parashat Bereshit, we see several instances of people pointing fingers at others and blaming them for faulty decision-making. Eve says, “The serpent made me eat the apple!” Adam says, “Eve made me eat it.” When Cain kills his brother Abel, he denies responsibility for his actions by asking G-d, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Today, we know that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves, as grown adults and members of Women’s League for Conservative Judaism; and that, as a result, we are truly our sisters’ keepers. We need to make sure that we take care of each other all of the time, even during those moments when one of us may make a less-than-positive decision.

WWOT, Weekly Words of Torah will be a brief paragraph prepared weekly by our new Executive Director, Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, presented in our “This Week @ Women’s League.” WWOT will provide meaningful thoughts related to the Weekly Torah Portion, an event on the Calendar, a Prayer, or something of Jewish interest, to inspire, guide, engage, enrich, and empower Conservative Jewish Women. If you have any particular interest in future topics, or want to send Rabbi Wolintz-Fields an email, you can contact her at ewolintz-fields@wlcj.org. Read previous Weekly Words of Torah here.