The prayers of shema and the amidah, lined up one before the next, have just a couple blessings of a pause between the two. These berachot are crucial, and the final berachah of ge’ulah, redemption, bears a certain significance. The gemarot in both editions, shows Rabbi Jeffrey Fox, see inherent deep value to the juxtaposition and craft beautiful imagery to explain it.

Parshat Lech Lecha describes a family attempting to make sense of a relocation, a narrative familiar to olim (people who move to Israel) such as Rabbanit Atara Lindenbaum. The legacy forged through trials and tribulations and moves back out of Canaan seems muddy, but comes from a place of seeking good for good’s sake.

This week, the plaques engraved with early 20th-century women’s section members’ names are unveiled, and the history of Anshei Sholom B’nai Israel moving buildings is discussed. Rabbanit Goldie Guy and Rabbi David Wolkenfeld discuss the aggadot and Ethiopian traditions which will be studied in the Beit Midrash.

The seven blessings surrounding Shema are rooted in more than halakhah. Through several hasidic and kabbalistic texts, Rabbi Jeffrey Fox shows the importance of the numbers, arrangement and wording of the berachot.

The story of a world destroyed and its inhabitants hidden inside a wooden home while utter decimation is not unknown to us. As the pandemic unfolded, Rabbi Dr. Wendy Zierler and her bat-mitzvah-aged chavrutah learned through Aliya’s parshah and dug deep into the meaning of an ambiguous light shining inside the darkness of the ark.

The berachot before shema are all grounded in numerous biblical and talmudic texts. In this installment, Rabbi Jeffrey Fox assesses how the first blessing evolved to be about “the One who created everything” rather than “the One who created evil” as was initially written. However, this need not be a negative statement; it may be a great equalizing statement.

The Jewish nation is one which has endured a great amount of trauma, pandemic aside. Marianne Novak cautions about using national memory as the sole coping mechanism to survive the pandemic and instead encourages supporting individuals in order to facilitate growth.

Danilla Pressner and Moshe Werthan, head of school and long-time board member at the Akiva School in Nashville, TN, join the Prizmah podcast to discuss the nature of forming a strong board for a day school. From looking beyond the community of parents to embracing individual strengths and from making time whenever possible to support growth to reaching out to the community, the administration and board has worked hard to cement a good reputation.

One line in the Gan Eden narrative seems to stand out: God walks through the garden and asks a question of Adam. As Rabbanit Yael Keller points out, this is not the only narrative with this kind of language; rather, when it appears again in Parshat Bechukotai, it offers a chance to return to Eden and walk together.

When God cursed Eve, he told her she would labor in “etzev”, commonly translated as pain. Rabbanit Leah Sarna offers a new mother’s new perspective: “etzev” comes from a root of sadness and depression, incredibly familiar in the fourth trimester. The postpartum mother is incredibly vulnerable and needs communal support in new ways, and it is time to embrace the curse while offering a hand.