Beshalach תשפ"ג To Take or Not to Take; that is the Question! When our forefather Avraham Avivu was seventy years old, at the ברית בין הבתרים - the Covenant of the Pieces, Hashem told him (Genesis 15:13-14) that his grandchildren would be slaves…
Bo תשפג A Confirmation for the Oral Torah The commandment to wear tefillin is written four times in the Torah. Indeed, each paragraph of the Torah containing that command constitutes the “script” that a scribe writes on parchment, which he then…
Parshat Vaera תשפג 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 people. The first…
Shemot תשפג This coming Shabbat we begin reading the second book of the Torah, Sefer Shemot, the book of Exodus. The רמב"ן (Ramban) Nachmanides, calls this second book ספר הגאולה - “The Book of Redemption.” Despite Moshe and Aharon receiving most of the attention (along with Hashem!) for freeing…
Parshat Vayechi תשפ"ג This week’s portion is the portion of blessings. In it, our forefather Yaakov bestowed blessings upon Yosef’s two sons, Ephriam and Menashe, and on all of his own sons, the 12 Tribes of Israel. It is striking how…
Vayigash תשפג After sitting in prison for 12 years, Yosef was suddenly called up to interpret Pharaoh’s two disturbing dreams. Yosef accurately interpreted the dreams, which warned Pharaoh of an impending 7-year famine that would wipe out all life in Egypt…
Chanukah תשפ"ג Before coming to Partners this evening, we lit the third Chanukah candle. The one flask of oil, which should have fueled the candles for only one day, miraculously lasted for a full eight. Jews the world over lit their menorahs to…
Vayeshev תשפ"ג The second verse in this week’s parsha (Genesis 37:2) starts out telling us about Yaakov’s descendants, but then focuses only on Yosef. (ב) אֵלֶּה תֹּלְדוֹת יַעֲקֹב יוֹסֵף 2) These are the chronicles of Yaakov, Yosef … The Torah next informs us…
Parshat Vayishlach תשפ"ג 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…
A Jew must pray three times a day, morning, evening, and night. The source of this law is the subject of an argument in the Talmud (Berachot 26b). One opinion holds that the forefathers originated the prayers, viz, Avraham instituted…