Vaera תשפ"ד In the second verse of this week’s portion וארא – Vaera (Exodus 6:3), Hashem tells Moshe: (ג) וָאֵרָא אֶל אַבְרָהָם אֶל יִצְחָק וְאֶל יַעֲקֹב בְּקֵל שַׁקָי וּשְׁמִי יְדֹוָד לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם 3) And I appeared to Avraham,…
Last week we completed the first book of the Torah, Bereshit – Genesis, and this week we begin the second book Shemot – Exodus. Nachmanides in his preface to sefer Shemot explains that Genesis is called the book of creation,…
Parshat Vayechi תשפד When thumbing through the pages of the Chumash, have you ever wondered what the פפפ or ססס at the end of almost every parsha in the Torah mean? The פ stands for פתוחה, an open paragraph,…
Vayigash תשפ"ד After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, they hurried home to tell their father Yaakov that Yosef was still alive and that he was the ruler of Egypt, second in command only to Pharaoh. Yaakov’s response was to…
Chanukah תשפ"ד Before coming to Partners this evening, we lit the sixth Chanukah candle, celebrating the miracle of the one flask of oil, which should have fueled the candles for only one day and miraculously lasted for a full eight. …
Vayeshev תשפד 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 … …
Our world has come to realize that we most successfully educate our children by example, not speeches. We can instruct our children from morning till night not to smoke, but if we ourselves smoke, it will be futile. They think,…
Vayetzei תשפ"ד Yaakov had to leave home because his brother Esav had vowed to kill him. This week’s portion begins with Yaakov’s journey (Genesis 28:10): י) וַיֵּצֵא יַעֲקֹב מִבְּאֵר שָׁבַע וַיֵּלֶךְ חָרָנָה 10) Yaakov left Be’er Sheva and…
Toldot תשפ"ד Antisemitism (Hatred of Jews), a phenomenon that dates back to the Jewishsojourn in Egypt, has perplexed pundits, Jew and non-Jew alike, for millennia.What is the source of the world’s deep hatred for us?Were the Jewish people a militant…
Chayei Sara תשפ"ד This week’s portion begins with the passing of our Matriarch Sara at the age of 127 years (Genesis 23:1,2). (א) וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה מֵאָה שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי שָׂרָה: (ב) וַתָּמָת שָׂרָה בְּקִרְיַת…