When we talk about the Big Three here in Detroit, we are generally referring to Ford, General Motors, and what used to be known as Chrysler, but now is called Stellantis. But when philosophers talk about The Big Three, they…
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,…
The year 1888 was not an uneventful year. The National Geographic Society was founded, and began telling a hungry public about the wonders of people and places all over the world. De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. was founded in South…
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,…
Sixteen years ago, I visited China for the first and so far only time. The purpose of the trip was to attend the dedication celebration of a Torah scroll a friend of mine had purchased for the Chabad of Pudong…
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…
Last night we had a Chanukah party at my house. I was busy preparing for an important lecture, so I was hoping to stay out of the kitchen entirely. But just when I thought I was free and clear, I…
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 … …
Dying, like birth, is something best done alone. But while in birthing there are occasional Buy One Get One Free twin deals, when it comes to dying, if two people are dying together it is usually the result of a…
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,…