Daily Aliya for Lech Lecha, Rishon (1st Aliya)

General Overview: Avram and Sarai travel to Canaan. Due to a famine in the land they temporarily relocate to Egypt, where Pharaoh unsuccessfully attempts to add Sarai to his harem. They return to Canaan with great wealth and Avram parts with his nephew Lot. Avram defeats the armies of the four kings who had taken his nephew Lot hostage. G‑d seals a pact with Avram, bequeathing the lands of Canaan to his descendants. Childless Avram marries Hagar and she gives birth to Ishmael. G‑d changes Avram's name to Avraham, and Sarai becomes Sarah. Avraham is circumcised at the age of 99.

Aliya Summary: G‑d commanded Avram to leave his father's house and homeland, and travel to the land that He will show him. As reward for doing so, G‑d promised to make Avram the patriarch of a great nation. Avram obeyed, taking along his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot. Once Avram arrived in Canaan, G‑d informed him that He will eventually give that land to his descendants. Avram traverses the length of the land until a famine forces him to travel to Egypt. Fearing that the Egyptians would kill him in order to take Sarai, Avram asked her to allege that he was her brother.

Daily Aliya for Noach, Shvii (7th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: This Aliya recounts the story of the Tower of Babel. Noach's descendants gathered in the Babylonian valley and started building a tower, in an attempt to reach the heavens and battle G‑d. G‑d disrupted their "plan" by causing them each to speak a different language, thus destroying their communications. This caused them to disperse and settle in different lands. The Torah then lists the ten generations of Shem's descendants. The tenth generation is Abram (later to be known as Abraham), who married Sarai (later to be known as Sarah).

Commentaries contrast the two sinful generations in this Parsha. Dor HaMabul (floor generation) was destroyed because their sins included the destruction of society by total disregard of a person for his fellow. Dor HaPlaga (tower generation) sinned against G-d alone, not against each other. In both cases, the basic tenets of creation were ignored, and it documented for us to learn from.

Daily Aliya for Noach, Shishi (6th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: Noach planted a vineyard, made wine, became drunk and fell into a deep drunken slumber -- while naked. Noach's son, Cham, saw his father naked, assaulted him, and informed his two brothers of their father's state. The brothers, Shem and Yafet, modestly approached their father and covered him. When Noach awakened, he cursed Cham's son, Canaan, and blessed Shem and Yafet. This section then names Noach's seventy grandsons and great-grandsons, the antecedents of the "seventy nations," and their adopted homelands.

There are at least five different periods during which nature did not behave as we know it today:
(1) The "time" before this world - previous worlds, assuming they existed, did not necessarily have the same laws of nature; (2) the indeterminable time of B'reishit - G-d's act of Creation of something from nothing; (3) the Six Days of Creation, during which G-d commanded things to happen, no doubt in very different ways from the nature He also created; (4) the first 1656 years of this world, throughout the ten generations from Adam to Noach, when the laws of nature also seem to differ from what we experience today, (5) the "year" of the Flood. These "lapses" in the Rules of Nature can explain a variety of scientific issues related to time and the age of the earth... and everything in it.

Daily Aliya for Noach, Chamishi (5th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: G‑d told Noach that he is establishing a covenant to never again bring a flood to destroy the world. G‑d designated the rainbow as the sign of this covenant: "And it shall come to pass, when I cause clouds to come upon the earth, that the rainbow will appear in the cloud. And I will remember My covenant..."

Although rainbows can be explained by science, there's something so mercurial about them, and that lends itself to help bridge an understanding between G-d and all "flesh", as the Torah describes it. It's not something abstract, requires no understanding, it just needs to be seen to be understood. It's a fickle combination of colors, designed to make us stop what we're doing, look up, and hopefully remember a covenant that G-d made with us. Of course if G-d wanted to get rid of us there are many other ways, but the point is that we have an unbreakable bond with Him, and the gentle rainbow is meant to remind us of that, so we stop what we're doing, look up high, and hopefully start thinking even higher.

Daily Aliya for Noach, Revii (4th Aliya)

Aliya Summary: G‑d commanded Noach to leave the teivah, along with all his fellow teivah-mates. Noach built an altar and offered sacrifices. This pleased G‑d, who then promised to never again curse the earth as He had just done. Instead, the regular seasons (which had not functioned during the year of the mabul) would continue perpetually. G‑d then blessed Noach and his sons: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." G‑d allowed mankind to eat meat, but prohibited murder, suicide, and the consumption of a limb ripped from a living animal.

What changed? Now that G-d enacted a "do-over", the changes are that there will now be seasons, basic laws must be followed, and man must procreate. The theme? Structure. Without rules and structure everything falls apart, and seasons and basic laws help facilitate a natural order of things. And having kids? Not only is having children a structured event, but raising them requires even more structure and discipline. Only after we work out our own issues by dealing with seasons and laws, we can then continue to bring new life to the world.

Daily Aliya for Noach, Shlishi (3rd Aliya)

Aliya Summary: The torrential rains lasted for forty days and nights. The waters rose to great heights and covered even the highest mountains, killing all humans and animals; everything died aside for Noach and the other occupants of the teivah. After the waters raged on the earth another 150 days, G‑d caused the waters to subside. The teivah eventually rested on the Ararat Mountains, and shortly thereafter the mountain peaks came into view. Noach opened the window of the teivah and dispatched birds to see whether it was time to leave the teivah. First he sent a raven, which refused to execute its mission and just circled the ark. He then sent out a dove. On its second attempt the dove went and did not return, signaling that the earth was once again habitable. After one full year in the teivah, the earth had dried.

Commentators explain that G-d's anger subsided and turned into mercy because of Noach's prayers. Apparently, prayer has a soothing effect on G-d, something not overlooked by future traditions, but this could have been the seed and blueprint for the prayers that have evolved since.

Daily Aliya for Haazinu, Rishon (1st Aliya)

General Overview: The bulk of this week's Torah reading, Ha'azinu, consists of a poetic song delivered by Moses and Joshua. The song is a prophecy of what will transpire to the Jews – the good and the bad – until the end of times. The portion concludes with G‑d commanding Moshe to climb Mount Nevo, from where he would see the Promised Land before his passing.

Aliya Summary: The heavens and earth, permanent fixtures of this world, are called upon to be witnesses to the words which Moshe will now say. The Torah, Moshe declares, is life to this world, much as rain and dew are to vegetation. G‑d is righteous and just, and all corruption stems from His children, who are thankless and lack the wisdom to recognize the source of all their blessing.