Author

  • Bex Stern Rosenblatt

    Bex Stern Rosenblatt is the Conservative Yeshiva’s Faculty-in-Residence for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States, teaching Tanach, using the techniques of close-reading, theater, feminist readings, and traditional commentators. Bex also directs the CY’s recruitment efforts in North America. After finishing her B.A. in History and German at Williams College, Bex received a Fulbright Grant to Austria. She later earned an M.A. in Tanakh from Bar Ilan University and has also studied at the Conservative Yeshiva and Bina Jerusalem. Bex is the founder of Havruta Tel Aviv, an organization that facilitates guided pair-learning of the Tanakh.

Parashat Shemot Haftarah: The Sound of Prayer

The Sound of Prayer

This week's haftarah brings meaning to words without meaning—nonsense—and how to pray without understanding the literal meaning.
Parashat Vayechi Haftarah: On Loss

On Loss

This week's haftarah juxtaposes King David preparing for his own death with both Jacob and Joseph's preparations for their own deaths.
Parashat Vayigash Haftarah: Reversals

Reversals

Parashat Vayigash continues a long narrative of sibling relationships. The reconciliation focused on here, reflects in this week's haftarah.
Parashat Miketz Haftarah: Golden Bowls and Grand Concepts

Golden Bowls and Grand Concepts

In making sense of details we begin to construct the grander concept and we realize we are in the presence of something bigger.
Parashat Vayeshev Haftarah: Reading Critically

Reading Critically

Many of our sacred texts are deeply unsettling. Our ancestors are deeply flawed people and their stories do not present easy takeaways.
Parashat Vayishlach Haftarah: Compassionate Fantasies

Compassionate Fantasies

In the haftarah for Vayishlach, from the Book of Obadiah, we read the story of God rebuking the nation of Edom, rather than Israel.
Parashat Vayetzei Haftarah: "Mostly Dead is Slightly Alive"

Mostly Dead is Slightly Alive

As we read the stories of Jacob, it is worthwhile to pay attention to the interplay between hope and God as the redeemer us from ...
Parashat Toldot Haftarah: Pushback

Pushback

In the haftarah for Parashat Toldot, the Book of Malachi describes a dialogue of pushback between God and the people of Israel.
Parashat Chayei Sarah Haftarah: Modifying Memories

Modifying Memories

With memories ever-changing, how do we trust what we remember and what is shared with us? How do we trust the memories of Torah characters?
Passing it on

Passing it on

In Vayera's haftarah, we read the story of Elisha and a big deal woman in Shunem reflecting three different models of hospitality.