Vayishlach תשע"ט Yaakov lived in his Uncle Lavan’s house for 20 years. Yaakov had come alone, penniless, and completely righteous. Now, after living with the scoundrel Lavan for two decades, Yaakov remained a perfect tzaddik. He had passed his first…
There are two types of people in the world, those who like their chocolate chip cookies crispy, and those who like them chewy. There are rumors that there exists a third type of human, the one who likes chocolate chip…
Chayei Sarah תשעט Avraham and Yitzchak returned safely from the Akeida, and now it was time to plan the next stage of Avraham’s legacy. Yitzchak almost lost his life, and had he died, Avraham’s entire contribution to the world would…
Pet peeves. We all have them, and we can’t really explain why we have them. The little things that could go unnoticed by most people, but seem to be particularly outsized grievances to us. People who walk slowly while texting…
Parshat Vayera תשע"ט 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): ספר בראשית פרק כב ב) וַיֹּאמֶר קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת…
There’s a dial somewhere, that spans the continuum from None to Enough. It describes how much people work out, and 99.9% of the populations gets dialed in somewhere in the middle. But there are select individuals who break the dial…
Lech Lecha 5779 The Mishna in Pirkei Avot (5:3) tells us that Hashem tested Avraham Avinu - our Forefather - with 10 tests, and he passed them all. One of the tests was the command to Avraham in this week’s…
One of the many things that I’m thankful to G-d for, it is that He had the kindness to allow me to be born in Generation X, just before the Millennial Generation. It’s not that I have anything against millennials,…
Parshat Noach תשע"ט When introducing us to Noach, Hashem is careful to tell us that Noach is a צדיק - a completely righteous person. This portion begins (Genesis 6:9) ספר בראשית פרק ו ט) אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת נֹחַ נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק…
We all know what it’s like to have your car impounded. You park at what you think is a legal spot and come back to find it missing. You search high and low, and then find a No Parking sign…