Midrash at Sof


  • The Character of Abraham (Lech-Lecha: Gen. 12:1-17:27) - Drash by Stan Satz Three of the most popular and almost identical apocryphal (that is, non-Biblical) stories about Abraham are found in pre-Talmudic lore, as in the The Book of Jubilees Chapter […]
  • Drash for Chayei Sarah - by Sandra Z. Armstrong In the words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, It is God’s faith in us that keeps us going. Abraham brought God’s words to earth. We as the […]
  • Foul Mixtures and Fools - Sotah Drash by Stan Satz Naso: Numbers 4:21-7:89   Numbers 5:11-31 contains the distasteful sotah ritual instigated by a husband who is convinced, even though there are no witnesses, that […]
  • Written Torah, Oral Torah, and Atonement - Behar–Bechukotai בְּהַר-בְּחֻקֹּתַי Drash by Daniel Koster Blessed were the Israelites in the time of Moses, for they knew the danger. The procedure for sacrifice is to place the offering on the […]
  • Tazria and Tzaraʻat - Parshat Tazria Drash by Alexander Fellman Good Shabbos, all. I’d like to start, as is my custom, with a little story: There is a council of Rabbis meeting, discussing a […]
  • Dancing to Praise God - Haftorah Commentary for Sh’mini by Stan Satz In the Torah, the most familiar example of dancing to praise God is found in Exodus Chapter 15 verse 20: Miriam, the sister […]
  • Eternal Flame and Sacrifice - Tetzaveh Drash by Daniel Koster Why does God want all this? This week, God instructs the Israelites to maintain  an eternal oil lamp, to construct extremely intricate (that is, expensive) […]
  • Justice and Mercy - Parsha Bo drash by Stan Satz Parasha Bo (Chapter 10 through the 16th verse of Chapter 13) I was in graduate school at Kent State University in the iconoclastic early […]
  • The Bones of Joseph - Vayehi Drash by Howard Streicher The different themes to pursue in Parsha Vayehi (“And he lived”) give us the opportunity for integrating the past into the present.  Yet, accepting the […]
  • The Rest is Commentary - Vayera Drash by Alexander Fellman וַיְחַזֵּ֤ק יְהוָה֙ אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֔ה But Hashem hardened pharaoh’s heart.   There is a concept among Christians called the unforgivable sin, the sin that God will […]
  • The Blessings of Yaʻakov - Toldot Drash By Alexander Fellman There’s a story I like. A Jew was found on a deserted island. He’d made quite a time of his prison there, building himself a […]
  • Divine Justice & Free Will - Reʻeh Drash by Howard Streicher Reʻeh, “see,” is the longest parsha with the most words in the book of words (Devarim) 7442 letters, 1932 Hebrew words.  To begin the parsha, God […]
  • Tzedek - Shoftim Drash By Marlene Booth & Avi Soifer Marlene: The portion of the Torah I read today emphasizes the need to have two witnesses in a criminal case.  No conviction […]
  • Hear and Remember - ʻEkev Drash by Sandra Z. Armstrong The great joy of Shabbat carries through every day until the time comes when we open up the Torah and the words flow through […]
  • Memory, Forgetting, and Accuracy - Drash on Va’etchanan by  Alex Golub There’s an old joke about a guy who is sent to prison. He’s terrified to be there and nervously, he sits down with some […]
  • Irony and Role Reversal - Parsha Balak Drash by Fran Margulies Our word irony comes from ancient Greek theater device erroneia. A comic character was an eiron, a faker who pretended to be dumb but […]
  • Grasshoppers and Giants - Parashat Shelach Drash from visiting Rabbi Norman Levin  I want to thank you for inviting me to give the dvar Torah this Shabbat. This is my first time in Hawaiʻi […]
  • Spiritual Acts of Faith - Parsha Chukat Drash by Donald Armstrong I have always enjoyed the poetry of Ogden Nash. He wrote: The cow is of the bovine ilk. One end is moo, the other […]
  • Recent Sof Drashes - Shabbat HaGadol & Story May 4, 2022 Drash by Reb Daniel Lev According to the great scholar of the Jewish Time-Cycle, Reb Eliyahu KiTov, For as long as the days […]
  • Tradition and Change - Pekudei Drash by Sandra Z. Armstrong When I taught preschool, I explained to the children the concept of same and different. It is a pretty elementary school basic concept and […]
  • Parshah Terumah - Drash by Marc Flitter To place Parshah Terumah in context, Moses has ascended to the mount. He is to be there 40 days and 40 nights. And God commands, “They […]
  • Ki Tissa—Drash by Sid Goldstein - Shabbat Shalom Exodus 4 :10  Moses said to the lord. “I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now. I am slow of speech and […]
  • Sof Drashes - Gut Yontif – Yom Kippur Drash October 1, 2021 By Alex Golub The High Holy Days are a time of teshuvah. Between the beginning of Rosh Hashanah and the end […]

 


Midrash Archive

To view the D’rash archive please click the link below

http://honoluludrash.wordpress.com/

The Sof Ma’arav Drash Archive is a collection of Torah commentaries written by members Sof Maarav for weekly Shabbat services.  As a lay-led congregation, Sof relies on the volunteer efforts of its members to lead services and provide spiritual depth to the weekly Torah reading through midrash, or commentary, composed voluntarily by community members.

The drashes collected here have been written by individuals; no effort has been or will be made to articulate larger cohesive theological themes.  In other words, this archive is intended to provide readers with the insights of individual thinkers about specific subject matter, rather than to espouse any particular religious orientation.  Participation in the archive is also voluntary, and usage of the material is subject to Creative Commons licensing (still under construction).

In addition to helping readers learn about the congregation’s depth of background, experience, and spiritual influences, this archive is intended to help future drashers everywhere by creating an accessible resource for study and inspiration.  No claims are or will ever be made about providing comprehensive Torah commentary; drashes will be added periodically when they are received.

A note about document formatting:

The documents archived here have not been edited for consistent formatting.  That means that the documents were posted in the form received from the authors.  Readers will therefore find that different authors use different fonts, spacing, and point size, among other formatting options.  Should the archivist someday win the lottery, she will make a consistent editorial style for this archive her first priority.  Until then, readers, please think kindly towards the donations that authors have provided this archive with, and overlook such small things as typos and sans serif fonts.

A note about copyright:

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