Parshat Va'eira תשפב This week’s portion’s opening two verses contain four different holy names of Hashem. (ב) וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹקִים אֶל משֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְדֹוָד (ג) וָאֵרָא אֶל אַבְרָהָם אֶל יִצְחָק וְאֶל יַעֲקֹב בְּקֵל שַׁקָּי וּשְׁמִי יְדֹוָד לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם 2) Elo(k)him spoke to Moshe and…
A few years back, I had three teeth extracted. The dentist who did the pulling, cutting, drilling, cutting, and stitching was a fine man named Dr. Gregg Bobier. He has great chairside manner and a calming demeanor, but nonetheless, the…
Parshat Vayechi Upon hearing that his beloved son Yosef was alive and well in Egypt, Yaakov gathered his family and moved there. And following Yosef’s advice, Yaakov and his family settled in Goshen, far from the Egyptian settlements, so that…
Manju Das was quite possibly the richest housemaid in the world at one point, with close to two million dollars in her bank account. Today she lives in a hut, her body wracked in pain because she can’t afford any…
Vayigash תשפב After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, they hurried home to tell 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 immediately go down…
SELL THE HOUSE SELL THE CAR SELL THE KIDS That phrase, all in capital letters, may not look like much to you, but it sure raised a lot of capital at an auction last year. Those words, put in black…
Vayeshev תשפב For 20 years, Yaakov hid in Lavan’s house from his brother Esav, who had vowed to kill him. Just after Yosef was born, Yaakov told his family, “It’s time to leave and return to my parents’ home.” What…