Parshat Vayeitzei After Esav vowed to kill his brother Yaakov for having taken their father Yitzchak’s blessing, Rivka and Yitzchak both decided to send Yaakov to Rivka’s brother, Lavan, to escape Esav’s wrath, and to find a wife. On the…
Parshat Vayeshev 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,…
Parshat Vayeira ספר בראשית פרק יח (א) וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו יְדֹוָד בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא וְהוּא ישֵׁב פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם: Genesis Chapter 18:1: Hashem appeared to him in the plains of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the…
Parshat Vayechi When Yaakov heard that his beloved son Yosef was alive and well in Egypt, he gathered his family and moved there. Based on Yosef’s advice, Yaakov and his family lived in Goshen, far from the Egyptian settlements, so…
Parshat Va'eira When Hashem appeared to Moshe at the burning bush, and Moshe responded that the people would not believe that Hashem had really appeared to him, Hashem gave Moshe three miracles to perform to convince the Jewish people. The…
Parshat Toldot Yitzchak and Rivka had been married for 20 years and had not been blessed with children. Our Sages tell us that were physically unable to do so. Yet, at age 60, Yitzchak would have liked to see the…
Parshat Terumah ספר שמות פרק כה (א) וַיְדַבֵּר יְדֹוָד אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר: (ב) דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת תְּרוּמָתִי: Exodus 25: 1) Hashem spoke to Moshe saying. 2) Speak…
Parshat Shoftim In this week’s portion, the Jewish Nation stands poised to enter the land of Israel. It is 2488 years since creation, forty years since leaving Egypt, and receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai. They have completed the forty…
Parshat Shemot This week we begin the second book of the Torah, Shemot – Exodus, which deals with the slavery in Egypt and the redemption of the Jewish people that we celebrate on Pesach, the receiving of the Torah on…
Parshat Re’eh I was recently asked, “Rabbi, you say Judaism is the only true religion, and the Christians say that Christianity is and the Moslems say that Islam is the true religion. How do you know you are right?” I…