Yaakov Avinu, the last of the Patriarchs, is at the end of his life. Yet before he leaves this world, he must charge the next generation with their mission to carry forward their illustrious family’s legacy, that of, Avraham, Yitzchak,…
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,…
I used to think that the entire California was one big meeting ground for urbane, progressive sophisticates, the type that ate braised youngberry frites, used venti as a vocabulary word, or listened to world fusion music while drinking organic wheatgrass martinis. While…
Thursday Lunch and Learn | Rabbi Leiby Burnham
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…
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…
The History of Money Part III We left off talking about paper money, and we’re now going to look at the future, but before we do, let me give you a few facts. The US currently owes $27.551 Trillion dollars.…