You are here: Home » News » WWOT – Parashat Ki Tavo

WWOT – Parashat Ki Tavo

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

As we study this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Ki Tavo, we might think that we are at a very traditional Passover Seder. We can hear words that include the section of the Haggadah about our father Abraham, who sojourned in the land of Arameans:  “We were slaves in Egypt; God saved us.” We always read this Torah portion, which also includes a litany of curses and blessings we might receive because of our actions, before Rosh Hashanah.

Perhaps we do this to give us insight into where we have been, and where we are going in this coming year. As we prepare for the new year, we should be undergoing a process called “Cheshbon Hanefesh,” introspection of the soul. Our Torah reading is a paradigm for us to do this introspection individually, and also as a Sisterhood. We can review our history, our own lives, and the life of our Sisterhood. What have we accomplished? Where have we come from to be able to achieve what we have? What have we missed the mark on and not done so well?  And what do we want to accomplish this coming year? Each Sisterhood can then make a goals list for the coming year, so that, at this time next year, we may look at our list, and see that our goals have been checked off, and our improvements increased in number.

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.