Parashat Bereshit 5785

by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields

This week we conclude our cycle of reading the Torah and begin again. Although we read the same words each year, they mean something very different each time we read them. This past year, the words of Parashat Bereshit, when Cain said to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” has  had ever more meaning. It is now over a year since the horrific events of October 7. Over 200 people have become our relatives, who we have prayed for their release. We continue to pray for 97 hostages to come home now and 4 more hostages who have been held by Hamas before October 7. We mourn the loss of those killed over the past year, as if they were our own brothers and sisters. We must not remain silent, and must fight for our brothers and sisters to be released from captivity, and pray that our brothers and sisters can live without the threat of bombs and missiles. We must respond and say yes, we are our brothers and sisters keepers. Am Yisrael Chai! The People of Israel Live!