This Shabbat, on which we read the Torah portion ofבשלח (Beshalach), is called שבת שירה (Shabbat Shira),the “Shabbat of the Song,” because this sedra (portion) contains the song that the Jewish people sang to Hashem in appreciation for the salvation…
On Rosh Hashanah this year, the Jewish calendar year changed from 5785 to 5786 (Rosh Hashanah means the “head” or the “beginning” of the new year.) This number represents the years that have passed since man’s creation on the 1st…
Vaera תשפ"ו In charging Moshe with his mission to take the Jewish people out of Egypt, Hashem told him (Exodus 4:17), (יז) וְאֶת הַמַּטֶּה הַזֶּה תִּקַּח בְּיָדֶךָ אֲשֶׁר תַּעֲשֶׂה בּוֹ אֶת הָאֹתֹת. 17) “And this staff you shall take in…
Parshat Shemot תשפ"ו Last week we completed the first book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis); this week we begin the second book, Shemot (Exodus). In his preface to sefer Shemot, Nachmanides explains that Genesis is called the book of creation,…
Parshat Vayechi תשפ"ו I heard this lesson from my Rebbe, Harav Moshe Shapiro זצ"ל , who heard it from his Rebbe, Rav Elyiahu Dessler זצ"ל. Today is Rav Shapiro’s ninth yahrtzeit. This week’s portion, Vayechi, is the last chapter in…
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had two consecutive baffling dreams, which even his wise men could not satisfactorily interpret.The situation, though, prompted Pharaoh’s butler, who had been in prison two years earlier with Yosef, to recall that Yosef had accurately…
What am I? Something very common Something very pretty I am physical and I eat physical things I can eat much more than my weight or size When I eat something, you can’t tell that I have eaten it Even…
The Ramban prefaces his commentary to the second book of the Torah, Shemot, by writing. השלים הכתוב ספר בראשית שהוא ספר היצירה בחדוש העולם ויצירת כל נוצר, ובמקרי האבות כולם שהם כעין יצירה לזרעם, מפני שכל מקריהם ציורי דברים לרמוז…
In Parshat Vayetzei, Yaakov transitions from being “only” Isaac’s son to become the third and choicest of our three forefathers. At age 63, his holy parents send him to seek a wife to begin to establish the Jewish nation.…
Yitzchak was 40 years old, and it was time for him to get married and continue the legacy that Avraham began. Avraham lived in Canaan, inhabited by the descendants of Noach’s grandson Canaan. Because Noach cursed Canaan, all of the…