They could not say a word to him in peace

Help Blair B. 

The chant!

Write words!

Rules of the Shvah- review and new

לטקס!    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk55HmKv2b4

        Parsha   

          

 

 

Hebrew			English
אֲנִי			I
אַתָּה			you (m. sing.)
אַתְּ			you (f. sing.)
הוּא			He/Him
הִיא			She/Her
אֲנַחְנוּ			We/Us
אַתֶּם			You/Y’all (m. pl.)
אַתֶּן			You/Y’all (f. pl.)
הֵם			They/them (m. pl.)
הֵן			They/them (f. pl.)

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz on Sleep and Dreams

 

1)   What is the name of the stage of sleep where you dream, and what does it mean?

a.   PIFF- Prefrontal Involuntary Focus Formation

b.  SED- Serological Evolution of Dreaming

c.   STP-  Serological Transient Programming

d.  REM- Rapid Eye Movement

e.   BURP-  Bulging Underneath the Retina’s  Pringle

 

 

2) How many stages of sleep are there before REM sleep?

a.   1

b.  3

c.   6

d.  10

e.   Close to 200.

 

 

3)  What are those  three stages called?

a.   Aleph/bet/dalet

b.  Alpha/beta/delta

c.   Ichi/Ni/San

d.  I/II /IV

e.   Frazzle /Glibble/Ping

 

 

 

4) What happens when the body enters the delta stage of sleep?

a.   Brain activity is minimal, breathing is deep and slow

b.  Brain activity is high, breathing is normal.

c.   The body rarely enters delta stage, we know little about it

d.  Dreams have begun, breathing is rapid.

e.   No brain activity or breathing.

 

 

 

5)  How many hours of sleep do adults need nightly to stay healthy?

a.   4

b.  6

c.   7

d.  8

e.   3 if they have coffee

 

 

6) What is the difference between a nightmare and a night terror?

a.   Only Children get night terrors

b.  Only Adults have nightmares

c.   Nightmares are upsetting dreams,  a night terror is a frightening short-circuiting of the sleep cycle.

d.  Night Terrors can happen every night for months on end.

e.   There is no such thing as Night Terrors, you made that up!

 

7)  What happens in a Lucid Dream?

a.   You are yourself and the dream is 1^st person

b.  You know you are dreaming and may be able to control the dream

c.   You have an omniscient view and know what will happen next

d.  You are someone other than yourself in the dream

e.   You meet Lou and Syd in your dream.

 

8) Hey,  I had a cool dream!  In it I…

a.   Was a Jedi Knight

b.  Was President of the USA

c.   Was part of Taylor Swift’s band

d.  Was living in Tokyo

e.   Was selling used cars in Cleveland. 

 

 

 

9) What is dreamcatcher in Native American culture?

a.   A healer or Medicine Man who interprets dreams

b.  A person of destiny or great potential who can achieve greatness

c.   A special tent or lodge which blocks nightmares

d.  A willow hoop with a netting and other elements.

e.   Dreamcatchers are Brazilian, not Native American.

 

 

 

 

10)                 What actually causes sleepwalking?    

a.   Hormonal imbalances from stress

b.  Positron emissions from fresh lumber

c.   Pollution from Plastics

d.  Excessive exposure to UV rays

e.   We don’t know what causes it.

 

 

 

 

PARSHA: VAYESHEV

1)     What’s a the fanciest or most formal garment there is?

2)   Do we care about our dreams these days?

Why did our ancestors?

 

3)  Why do people play favorites?   Why do parents play favorites?  What about teachers? 

 

Vayeshev: Genesis 37 1-11

Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s journeys,
in the land of Ca’na’an.   These are the (stories of the) offspring of Yaakov: 
Yosef, seventeen years old, used to tend the sheep along with his brothers,
for he was serving-lad with the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, his father’s wives.  And Yosef brought a report of them, a nasty one, to their father.

Now Yisrael loved Yosef above all his sons,  for he was a “son of old age” to him,
so he made him a ketonet passim*.

 (*a kind of garment, translations vary).

His brothers saw that it was he whom their father loved above all his brothers,
so they hated him,  and could not speak to him in peace.

Yosef dreamt a dream, and told it to his brothers
—from then on they hated him still more—;

he said to them:
“So listen to this dream that I have dreamed:

So there we were, binding sheaf-bundles out in the field,
and suddenly, my sheaf of wheat arose, and it was standing upright,
and suddenly, your sheaves were turning round and bowing down to my sheaf!”

His brothers said to him:

“Would you imperially be emperor over us?
And would you ruthlessly rule over us?”
From then on they hated him still more—for his dreams, for his words.

But he dreamt still another dream, and recounted it to his brothers;
he said:   “Look, I have dreamt still [another] dream:
See, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me!”

[When] he recounted it to his father and his brothers,
his father rebuked him and said to him:
"What kind of dream is this that you have dreamt!
Shall we certainly come,  your mother and your brothers,
to bow down to you to the ground?”

His brothers envied him,
while his father kept thinking about it. 

 

 

WHAT’S A KETONET PASSIM?

Sa’adya Gaon,   Babylonia, 9^th Century:  Linen in its warp, silk in its woof. (Silk would have been immensely expensive). Silk, as we learn in tractate Sanhedrin (Babylonian Talmud)---  Raba bar Mehasia also said in the name of Rabbi Hama ben Goria in Rab's name: “A man should never favor one son among his other sons, for on account of the two sela's (ancient pounds) weight of silk, which Jacob gave Joseph in excess of his other sons, his brothers became jealous of him and the matter resulted in our forefathers' descent into the house of slavery.”

Chizkuni (13^th Century France): A different explanation sees in the word פסים as a “compensation,” for being a half orphan, not having a mother anymore. Yaakov tried to compensate him by having a costly garment made for him.

Daat Zkenim (group commentary, 11^th and 12^th century France and Spain)

כתונת פסים, “an embroidered garment;” extending down to the palms of his hands (and likely to his ankles as well).  [Not a garment for working in.]

 

Ibn Ezra (Spain, 13^th Century) A COAT OF MANY COLORS. Ketonet passim means an embroidered coat. The word passim (many colors) is similar to the Aramaic word pas (part) in part of (pas) a hand (Dan. 5:5).

                                                               

Malbim (Rabbi,  Meir Leibush ben Yehiel Michel Wisser,  19^th Century Poland, later Chief Rabbi of  Romania)

Ketonet Passim--A long colorful cloak. The other brothers were dressed like shepherds, but because Yosef was his father’s attendant he was required to dress in a dignified manner.

 

Rabbeinu Bahya (14^th Century, Zaragosa): ועשה לו כתונת פסים, “he made for him a striped coat.” This was a superior quality garment. It may have resembled the כתונת תשבץ/ketonet tashbetz worn by the High Priest (Exodus 28,4). The brothers were envious of Joseph on account of this garment. According to Bereshit Rabbah 84,6 the expression פסים (plural) is used because these stripes were as wide as two פסות ידיו, two handbreadths.

 

Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, 13^th century): ועשה לו כתונת פסים, the word פס is related to the same word in Daniel 5,5 פס ידא, palm of a hand. The cloth was made of differently colored surfaces similar to garments made of soft wool which are made in a number of differently colored stripes or sections. The garment looked very impressive, arousing the hatred of the brothers in addition to the fact that they hated him for spreading tales about them to their father.

 

AND TO SUM IT ALL UP…..

 

Rav Jonah Berele, z”l  (one of Mar Hirsch’s teachers): “Any of the possible answers to what made this garment special meant it took time to source its elements and create it. Surely the brothers were expecting this to be Jacob’s  robe indicating his status as patriarch, chieftain, and father of many.   Surely they watched it being crafted, or had to bring progress reports from the artisans making it to their father. Add in that  fact, and then imagine the brothers reaction when this garment fit for royalty,  long under construction, now winds up not around their father’s shoulders but wrapped around Joseph!”    

 

BERAYSHEET/GENESIS CH. 40

1 It happened after these things, that the chief butler [in charge of the wine]  of the king of Mitzrayim and his chief baker offended their lord, the king of Mitzrayim. 2 Par`oh was angry with his two officers, the chief butler and the chief baker. 3 He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Yosef was bound. 4 The captain of the guard assigned them to Yosef, and he took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.

5 They both dreamed a dream, each man his dream, in one night, each man’s dream with a different meaning, both the butler  and the baker of the king of Mitzrayim, who were bound in the prison. 6 Yosef came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and saw that they were sad. 7 He asked Par`oh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?" 8 They said to him, "We have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it." Yosef said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God? Please tell it to me."

9 The chief butler told his dream to Yosef, and said to him, "In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me, 10 and in the vine were three branches. It was as though it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes. 11 Par`oh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Par`oh's cup, and I gave the cup into Par`oh's hand." 12 Yosef said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days. 13 Within three more days, Par`oh will lift up your head, and restore you to your office. You will give Par`oh's cup into his hand, the way you did when you were his butler. 14 But remember me when it will be well with you, and show kindness, please, to me, and make mention of me to Par`oh, and bring me out of this house. 15 For indeed, I was stolen away out of the land of the Ivrim/ those over the river, and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon."

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Yosef, "I also was in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. 17 In the uppermost basket there was all kinds of baked food for Par`oh, and the birds ate them out of the basket on my head." 18 Yosef answered, "This is the interpretation of it. The three baskets are three days. 19 Within three more days, Par`oh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you."

20 It happened the third day, which was Par`oh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief butler to his position again, and he gave the cup into Par`oh's hand; 22 but he hanged the chief baker, as Yosef had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief butler didn't remember Yosef, but forgot him.

  

 

1.    I dreamt I was on a long road trip,  on a greyhound bus.  Every time I went to the back of the bus to use the bathroom, my bubbe Phyllis got in my way and said  very angrily: “Why don’t you like my brisket?”  Then I woke up.

 

2.    I dreamt I  was rich and happy because I had a great job.  One day, I took the morning off and went to help rabbi Dror build a new building .  When I was done helping him,  I had lost my job and had to go work in a soup factory.  Then I woke up.

 

 

 

3.    I dreamed I was a cat, dreaming I was a cat.   I woke up and I was still a cat. Then I woke up.

 

 

 

4.    I dreamed I was a roach, and I was leading the other roaches on a long journey.  We came to the light at the end of a long tunnel, and we came out onto the stove  in my best friend’s house and she was cooking bacon. She screamed and smushed me.  Then I woke up.

 

 

5.    I dreamed I was at my summer camp and everyone was telling me to call the new kid a “mudblood”.  They kept yelling at me  until I said “BUT Harry Potter books are bad for Basketball players.”   Then I woke up.

 

 

 

6.    I dreamt I was studying for my bat/bar with Hazzan Mizrahi, who gave me a page of music and said “Don’t lose it, no matter what!”   But when I went home I was hungry, so it turned into a pizza and I ate it.  Then I woke up.

 

 

 

7.    I dreamt I was working in a particle accelerator lab, and when the director came  to ask me to work an extra day, I said “I don’t roll on Shabbes.”  He said I had to work on Shabbat or I would be turned into a unicorn.  I said “not if I get you first,” fed him a rainbow, and he turned into a half-unicorn half-snake.  And then I woke up in the main sanctuary, I had fallen asleep during Shabbat morning services.

 

 

8.    I dreamt I was reading Torah for my brother’s bar Mitzvah, but I was floating above the bimah because I was wearing a jet pack.  Rabbi Seigel  told me my application to Rabbinical school had been accepted, and handed me a kitten with black fangs. Then I woke up.

 

 

 

9.    I dreamt I was Google, and everyone just kept asking me questions all day, and some of them made no sense, like “How heart pumps to California sideways?”  Eventually, I just put up a few pictures of cats being cute, and then sat and cried for an hour. Then I woke up.

-

PARSHAT VAYESHEV  ---6^TH GRADE  BRAUN RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

THOUGHTS ON THE MEANING OF DREAMS

FROM THE TALMUD BAVLI, BRACHOT 57A-57B  (200-500 CE)

 

A)  Rabbi Johanan also said: “Three kinds of dream are fulfilled: an early morning dream, a dream which a friend has about you, and a dream which is interpreted in the midst of a dream.” Some add “also, a dream which is repeated, as it says in Genesis,‘the dream was given in two forms to Pharoah, it will soon come to pass, etc.” 

 

B)  Bar Kappara said to Rabbi [Judah the Regent]  “I dreamt that my nose (aph)  fell off!”  He replied to him “It means you will no longer lose your temper (charon aph).“

 

C)  The elephants in a dream are a good omen  if saddled, a bad omen if not saddled.   If one dreams that he is reciting the Shema', he is worthy that the Divine presence should rest upon him, but his generation is not deserving enough. If one dreams he is putting on tefillin, he may look forward to greatness.

 

D)  The Emperor [of Rome]  said to  Rabbi Joshua bar  Rabbi Hananyah “You [Jews] profess to be very clever. Tell me what I shall see in my dream.” Rabbi Joshua said to him “You will see [your enemies] the Persians making you do forced labor, and robbing you and making you feed unclean animals with a golden shovel.”  The Emperor thought about it all day, and in the night he saw it in his dream!

 

E)   Rabbi Samuel bar Nahmani said in the name of  Rabbi Jonathan: A man is shown in a dream only what is suggested by his own thoughts, as it says in the book of Daniel, “To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this….”    Or if you like, I can derive it from here: “So that you  know the thoughts of the heart.”    Raba said “No- this is proved by the simple fact that a man is never shown in a dream a date palm of gold, or an elephant going through the eye of a needle-- that is to say something he has never seen before or that is impossible.”

 

And Thy word broke their sword, when our own strength failed us.

 

 

BIG BAND WELCOME!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAy72TjqI0

 

 

ps 22

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsY0qJduFN8

Lelsie Odom Jr.-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Odom_Jr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beb8FsHBh-g

 

            IF THEY CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU! 

 

See the handout.

 

 

• Maoz Tzur is a song that we sing right after lighting the candles on each night of Hanukkah

•       Most synagogues and families sing the first paragraph, but it is actually part of a larger poem that is five stanzas long

• In this case, the author of this poem’s name is Mordechai • Each stanza begins with a letter of his name - see if you can find it

 מ- ר-ד - כ-י : This is also meant to help the people singing it remember which verse they are on

• Also like many poems, Maoz Tzur is a rhyming poem: leshabeach, nezabeach, etc.

 

• Three themes to identify from this poem:

1.    The opening words:  Maoz tzur - the poem identifies God as the Jewish people’s Maoz - fortress, and tzur – rock--  In times of trouble, these are two of the most protective and comforting images for a person or nation who is scared - being protected by a fortress and supported by their rock

2.   The middle stanzas include other times in our people’s history when we faced persecution - slavery in Egypt, Babylonian exile and captivity, and Haman in the Esther story --We zoom out of the Hanukkah story and talk about other moments of discrimination in our history

3.   In the final stanza, the poet poetically summarizes what happened during Hanukkah; The ancient Greeks surrounded the Jewish people, they broke down Jerusalem’s towers and defiled the Temple o And yet, there was a miracle, and now we celebrate for eight days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Italian version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Hq_qJDWww&t=14s

Modern Israeli

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50yjOBTXH0s

 

 

You will learn by the numbers!! I will teach you! By the sea!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslsgH3-UFU

 

 

Shoshani Ubanav/ Nikkur

               AL Hanisim-  reading

https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz%2C_Shabbat%2C_Minchah%2C_Amidah%2C_Thanksgiving%2C_Al_Hanisim_for_Chanukkah.1?lang=bi

              Al Hanishim- song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWZZEIwEur0

  

 הַנִּסִּים

Hanesim

Hanasim

Hanisim

Hanasam

Hana-Maki

 

 

 

 

 הַפֻּרְקָן

Hafurkav

Hapurekan

Hafurkan

Hapurkan

Hapurttylittlekitten

 

 

 הַגְּבוּרוֹת

Hagivurot

Hajevurot

Hag’vudot

Hag’vurot

Hagibanush

 

 

 

הַתְּשׁוּעוֹת

Hateshu’tzot

Ha’tashu’ot

Ha’teshu’ot

Ha’chu’ot

Habainibioboebeh

 

 

 הַנִּפְלָאוֹת

Haniflaois

Hanefila’ot

Hanif’laot

Hanif’laut

Hanif el-Rashid

 

 

 הַנֶּחָמוֹת

Hanechamoot

Hanehamoot

Hanechamot

Hanehamot

Hanachocheese

 

 שֶׁעָשִׂיתָ

Shetza’seeta

Shetza’sheeta

Sheah’sheeta

Sheah’seeta

Sheh lo yodea

 

לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ

La’avotei’nu

Lavoteh’nu

Lavotei’nu

Le’avotei’nu

Latkahgedolah

 

 

 בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם

Bayamem Haham

Beyemem Heheym

Baiyamin Haheym

Baiyamim Chachem

Binyamin Chochom

 

 בַּזְּמַן הַזֶּה

At that time

At this time

In their time

In our time

There’s no time

 

 

 

 

JS-  Parsha

Hot dogs!

               Hebrew National Commercial - YouTube

               What Makes Us a Cut Above the Rest? l Hebrew National - YouTube

Wrestling

Rahcel’s tomb:  Other Side of the Wall - Biking to Rachel's Tomb - YouTube

 

            Warmup:  Limericks- Wrestling.

                             The moves make the whole ring quake

                            Holds and grips that could make bones break

                             But ask those in the know

                             They will all tell you so

                             Professional wrestling is ____________________.

 

 

                             Sumo wrestlers huge and rarely hyper

                             So sweaty they could use a window wiper

                             at the next basho or tourney

                             make an ettitqute jour

                             they wear mawashi  not a _____________________.

                            

 

 

                             Olympic sports may start or cease

                             Some new sport may get a lease

                             But some sports are classic

                             Like from  the era Jurassic

                             wresting goes back to ancient _____________.

 

 

                             Separated the wrestlers begin

                             And then fight until one gets to win

                             The hard way to go

                             Is to win with a throw

                             Most wrestlers win their match with a _____________________.

                            

 

                            Separated, Sumo wrestlers begin

                             And collide with a terrible din

                             Only foot soles touch floor

                             But there is one rule more

                             Step out of the ring and you don’t _________________________.

 

                             Professional wrestlers adore

                             Drama and costumes and more

                             But it’s not just in the US

                             There’s pro wrestling success,

                             In Mexico they cheer the _______________.

                                                                       

 Vayishlach

PART ONE (Beraysheet 32:4 –33:17)

A- Now Ya’akov sent messengers on ahead of him to Esav his brother in the land of Se’ir, in the territory of Edom, and charged them, saying:

Say to my lord, to Esav:

So says your servant Yaakov:

I have traveled with Lavan and have gone-slowly until now.

Ox and donkey, sheep and servant and maid have become mine.

So I have sent to tell my lord, to find favor in your eyes.

The messengers returned to Yaakov, saying:

“We came to your brother, to Esav—

but he is already coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him!”

 

B- Yaakov became exceedingly afraid and was distressed.

He divided the people that were with him and the sheep and the oxen and the camels into two camps;

he said [to himself]:

Should Esav come against the one camp and strike it, the camp that is left will be a remnant-that-escapes.   Then Yaakov said:

“God of my father Avraham,  God of my father Yitzhak, O Adonai,

who said to me: Return to your land, to your kindred, and I will deal well with you!—

too small am I for all the loyalty and faithfulness that you have shown your servant.

For with [only] my staff did I cross this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

Pray save me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esav!

For I am in fear of him,

lest he come and strike me down, mothers and children alike!

Yet you, you have said:

I will deal well, well with you,

I will make your seed like the sand of the sea, which is too much to count!”

 

 

 

C- He spent the night there that night,

and took a gift from what was at hand, for Esav his brother:

she-goats, two hundred, and kids, twenty,

ewes, two hundred, and rams, twenty,

nursing camels and their young, thirty,

cows, forty, and bulls, ten,

she-donkeys, twenty, and colts, ten;

he handed them over to his servants, herd by herd separately,

and said to his servants:

“Cross on ahead of me, and leave room between herd and herd.”

He charged the first group, saying:

“When Esav my brother meets you and asks you, saying: To whom do you belong, where are you going, and to whom do these ahead of you belong?

Then say:

—to your servant, to Yaakov, it is a gift sent to my lord, to Esav,

and here, he himself is also behind us.”

 

 

 

 

 

D- Thus he charged the second, and thus the third, and thus all that were walking behind the herds, saying:  According to this word shall you speak to Esav when you come upon him:

you shall say: Also—here, your servant Yaakov is behind us. For he said [to himself]:

I will wipe [the anger from] his face

with the gift that goes “ahead of my face;”

afterward, when I see his face,

perhaps he will lift up my face!

The gift crossed over “ahead of his face,”  but he spent the night on that night in the camp. He arose during that night    and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children

to cross the Yabbok crossing. He took them and brought them across the river; he brought across what belonged to him.

And Yaakov was left alone—

 

DON’T BE IGNORANT OF YOUR RUMP,

OR, KASHRUT AND HINDQUARTERS

Often enough,  we  here in the USA see that this is what is kosher on a kosher, four legged animal.  The hind quarters are not listed as kosher.

However, when you go to Israel, the situation is  totally different.

Meet the Shoshani Brothers.  They run Jerusalem’s best known butcher shop,  Shoshani and Sons, Inc., which is under top-level Kosher supervision.  The shop was started by their father before the state of Israel was established! Jerusalem’s top restaurants buy their meat here, and lovers of good food order from them.  And their store has a meat map like this: 

Kosher butchers like the Shoshani’s, as well meat stands at the supermarkets throughout Israel  show the whole cow!  All those cuts that are normally not available as Kosher in the USA are sold there:  Sirloin, Tenderloin, Flank, Top Round.

Here is the display case at Shoshani and Sons. The cut in the middle is #13, “Sheytel”, which is prized for Szechuan Beef and other stir-fried dishes. It’s a cut from the back of the cow,  and you normally can’t get this cut of beef from a Kosher butcher in the US.

 Almost every part of the cow is kosher according to the Torah.   In Israel, kosher hind cuts are common and affordable.   In the USA,  we rarely see them, if at all. What is going on here?     Part of it has to do with our ancestor,  Ya’akov.

BERESEET (GENESIS) 32: 22-32

24And Ya’akov was all alone--  then a man wrestled with him on and on until dawn. 25When the man saw that he could not win against Ya’akov, the man struck at the socket of Ya’akov's hip so that it was dislocated as they wrestled. 26Then the man said, "Let me go; it's almost dawn!" But Ya’akov answered, "I won't let you go until you bless me!" 27So the man asked him, "What's your name?" "Ya’akov [Heel-Twister]," he answered. 

 28The man said, "Your name will no longer be Ya’akov but Yisra’el [god-fighter] because you have struggled with God and with men--  and you have won." 29Ya’akov said, "Please tell me your name." The man answered, “You need to ask my for my name?” Then he fled from Ya’akov. 30So Ya’akov named that place Peni-el [Face of God], because he said, "I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved." 31The sun rose as he passed Peni-el. He was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore, even today the people of Yisrael  do not eat the  Gid Ha’nashe [Sciatic tissue attached to the hip socket] because Ya’akov's hip was dislocated at the thigh muscle.

Look at the reactions of sages to this last verse:

The Bechor Shor (Oleans, France, 12^th cen.):  It is to be a commemoration for them that their forefather fought with the angel, and [the latter] could not subdue him. And so [the angel] wounded him in the rear-facing section of his thigh, in the place where there is the sciatic nerve. And it is a commemoration of glory and greatness.

 

Chizkuni (France, 13^th cen.):  it would be right and proper to punish the Israelites not to eat that particular sinew as they should not have allowed their founding father to be exposed to hostile forces at night. Yaakov’s sons were physically strong, and they should have been at hand to assist their father if the need arose to do so. Seeing that they failed to do this, the blame for the injury sustained by their father was theirs. From now on they would have learned their lesson and would practice the commandment to accompany their father, or for that matter, any older and wiser person, especially at night.  

 

Ibn Ezra (Spain, 12^th cen.) :The meaning of the term gid ha-nasheh (the sinew of the thigh-vein) is known from the tradition received and transmitted to us by the Talmudic sages. The rabbis interpret gid ha-nasheh to mean the sinew that slipped from its place. No one but those lacking in understanding and knowledge of nature have any doubt as to its definition.

 

Tur HaArokh (Toledo, Spain, 14^th cen.) :    The Jews not eating this sinew are comparable to sons who make a point of fasting on the anniversary of their father’s death. Another way of looking at this law: In the future, the Jewish people would be commanded not to eat this sinew in order that they should remain aware of the miracle which had occurred when a mortal man, their ancestor Yaakov, had been able to prevail against a celestial force trying to wrestle him to the ground.

 

So Jews who observe Kashrut won’t eat this part of an animal. So what do they do for meat headed to Israel that we don’t do here? 

A trained kosher butcher will  cut out the forbidden tissue from the meat,  a process called Nikur.  There used to be many people in the United States who were Menakerim,  experts in Nikur,  but due to a number of reasons, there are only three left in the entire US!  So aside from three stores here,  you have to go to Israel to find a kosher sirloin, as in Israel there are still many Menakerim.  However,  as we try and eat less meat-  and waste less of the meat we do eat, there may be a return of these cuts to the kosher market in America. 

To top it all off,  Rambam  (that’s Rabbi Dr. Moses Maimonides to you)  codifies what you have to do with this section of an animal and some other related laws:

 

 

Mishneh Torah, Forbidden Foods 8:7

One who removes the gid hanashe must dig out all traces of it until nothing remains. A butcher's word is accepted with regards to the gid hanashe, just as it is accepted with regards to chailev (fats forbidden to eat by the Torah). We don't purchase meat from any old butcher, only from an upright guy who has an established reputation for being observant of the Torah. If he slaughters the meat himself and sells it, his word is accepted.

Mishneh Torah, Forbidden Foods 8:14

It is permitted to derive benefit from the gid hanashe. Therefore, it is permitted for a Jew to send a thigh with the gid in it to a non-Jew. The Jew may give the non-Jew the entire intact thigh in the presence of a Jew. We don't suspect that this other Jew will partake in the meat before the sinew is removed, because the location of the gid is conspicuous (so they won’t eat it).

(See-  it really stands out!--> ) So when we look at this week’s Torah Portion and ask “what does this have to do with being Jewish today,”  the answer is clear!  What we eat, when we follow the discipline of kashrut, anchors us to the lives of our ancestors and their struggles.

 VAYISHLACH 

PART THREE CH. 35 vv 16-21

They moved on from Bet-El/House of God.
But when there was still a stretch of land to come to Efrat,
Rahel began to give birth,
and she had a very hard birthing.

It was, when her birthing was at its hardest,
that the midwife said to her:
Do not be afraid,
for this one too is a son for you!

It was, as her life was slipping away
—for she was dying—
that she called his name: Ben-Oni/Son-of-My-Suffering.
But his father called him: Binyamin/Son-of-my-Right-Hand.

So Rahel died;
she was buried along the way to Efrat—that is Bet-Lehem.

Yaakov set up a standing-pillar over her burial-place;
that is Rahel’s burial pillar of today.

 

 

PART FOUR CH. 35 vv.27-29

Yaakov came home to Yitzhak his father at Mamre, in the city of Arba—

that is Hevron, where Avraham and Yitzhak had sojourned.

And the days of Yitzhak were a hundred years and eighty years,

Then Yitzhak expired.
He died and was gathered to his kinspeople, old and satisfied in days.
Esav and Yaakov his sons buried him.