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…
Thursday Lunch and Learn | Rabbi Leiby Burnham
Sandra never knew freedom. She was born in captivity into a group of people that treated her like an animal, keeping her in a cage, and feeding her not much more than bottles of milk and vegetable scraps. Being caged…
Vayigash תשפג After sitting in prison for 12 years, Yosef was suddenly called up to interpret Pharaoh’s two disturbing dreams. Yosef accurately interpreted the dreams, which warned Pharaoh of an impending 7-year famine that would wipe out all life in Egypt…
Thursday Lunch and Learn | Rabbi Leiby Burnham
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…
The History of Money Part II Part I left off discussing the innovation of paper money, by merchants in Sichuan in tenth-century China, but that story is incomplete without a discussion of the Mongols and their role in the money…