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…
Parshat Noach Rashi begins his Torah commentary with Rabbi Yitzchak’s famous question: Why did Hashem begin the Torah with a description of Creation? Isn’t the Torah’s purpose to convey to man his obligations in the form of the commandments that…
Parshat Mishpatim And, Parshat Mishpatim starts off in a peculiar way. The Hebrew text begins with a “ו“, which translates as “And,” a word usually used to connect two ideas or concepts. But this is the beginning of a new…
Parshat Lech Lecha The book of Bereshit is the book of creation. It begins with the creation of the physical world and continues to detail the creation of the Jewish nation, the ultimate purpose for the world’s creation. The stories…
Parshat Emor This week’s portion contains the commandment to sanctify Hashem’s name. The verse states (Leviticus 22:32): ספר ויקרא פרק כב לב) וְלֹא תְחַלְּלוּ אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲנִי יְדֹוָד מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם You shall not desecrate My holy…
Parshat Korach The name of this week’s Torah portion is Korach. Korach is the name of the great and holy man who created a rebellion against Moshe. I am sure you are wondering about my choice of words in describing…
Parshat Ekev Ekev is the third portion in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), the fifth book of the Torah. This entire book was told to the Jewish people in the last thirty six days of Moshe’s life, with last three…