This coming Shabbat we begin the Torah’s second book, Shemot. After just a few verses, we learn of Levi’s death at age 137. This noteworthy “statistic” had extraordinary significance, for it marked the beginning of our slavery in Egypt. As…
Tonight, December 31st, the 1st day of the month (“Rosh Chodesh”) of Tevet, is the seventh night of Chanukah. Jews the world over have kindled seven candles in their menorahs to celebrate the seventh consecutive day that the one…
Tomorrow night, we will kindle the first Chanukah candle. We celebrate the eight-day Chanukah holiday by lighting an eight-branch menorah, each branch representing one night of the holiday. By daily adding another candle, we acknowledge the miracle of the Temple…
The story of Yosef and his brothers is one of the Torah’s most difficult stories to understand. How could the brothers’ jealousy towards Yosef have been so great that they wanted to kill him because of it? And, after they…
This week’s Parsha details the encounter between the world’s two opposing forces: good and evil, as manifest in Yaakov and his brother Esav. These two players are still center stage in today’s world in the form of the Jewish people…
Esav has vowed to kill Yaakov for stealing his blessing from Yitzchak, so Rivka and Yitzchak decided to send Yaakov to Rivka’s brother, Lavan. This would both protect Yaakov from his brother’s wrath and find him a wife. On Yaakov’s…
Nachmanides (49:23) calls Genesis “The Book of Creation”. 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 להודיע כל העתיד לבא להם The book…
This week’s Parsha ends with Avraham’s last and most difficult test: the binding of Yitzchak, the Akeida. Hashem told Avraham (Genesis 22:2): ב) וַיֹּאמֶר קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת יִצְחָק וְלֶךְ לְךָ אֶל אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה וְהַעֲלֵהוּ…
In this week’s portion, Noach, we learn about the first two of the three famous “generations” spoken about by our Sages. They are (1) theדור המבול - the “Generation of the Flood,” and (2) the דור הפלגה, the - “Generation…
The Tur (written by R. Jacob ben Asher 1269-1343) notes in the name of his brother that the three festivals, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot, correspond to our three forefathers, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov: Passover corresponds to Avraham because the angels…