D’var Torah: Shema Yisrael! When We Can’t Hear What We Need to Hear In Parshat Va’era (Exodus 6:9), we read: “וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה מִקֹּצֶר רוּחַ וּמֵעֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה” – “But they did not listen to Moses because of shortness of breath… Read More »
Degradation and Not Dignity “וַיָּקָם מֶלֶךְ־חָדָשׁ עַל־מִצְרָיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדַע אֶת־יוֹסֵף”—”There arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). The Talmud (Sotah 11a) debates: “רב ושמואל חד אמר חדש ממש וחד אמר שנתחדשו גזירותיו”—”Rav and Shmuel… Read More »
Unity Through Diversity: The Path to Redemption (Based on a shiur by Rabbi Paul Bloom) As Sefer Bereishit concludes, Yosef’s brothers fear retribution after their father’s death. They convey a message: “Your father commanded before his death… please forgive the… Read More »
D’var Torah: Vayigash The Approach That Changes Everything Parashat Vayigash opens with a moment of unbearable tension: “וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה—And Judah approached him” (Genesis 44:18). But what does vayigash truly mean? Rashi understands it as approaching for battle—Judah ready to… Read More »
We read the Joseph story on Shabbat Hanukkah, because he experienced episodes of darkness and struggle both internal to our family and as part of a world that does not know enough how to feed itself. Pharoah recognizes that “Ruach… Read More »
Hanukkah – Celebrate 8 Days “Loud and Proud!” Hanukkah begins on Sunday night! The lights of the menorah are to be placed in a public thoroughfare or in our windows, to shine light into a dark world. It is also… Read More »
The Divine Strategy of Dispersion: A D’var Torah on the Parshah & Haftarah of Toldot In rabbinic thought, Jacob and Esau transcend their biblical narrative to become archetypal representations of the relationship between Jews and the nations. The Midrash (Bereshit… Read More »
Shabbat Shalom, friends— I’m writing to you from Israel—first I was in Jerusalem, where I spent the week teaching Talmud and Jewish pedagogical methodology to a worldwide network of Jewish schools. Our shared aim was to deepen Jewish literacy while… Read More »
God Rejected Hamas, so Be Like the Holy One… The world was filled with HAMAS חמס, and God knew that it had to start over. The commentators argue about whether the hamas (word used in our parsha to describe the… Read More »
Affirming We are “My Brother’s Keeper” When we hear a candidate for public office deny the Jewish People their eternal right to the land of Israel and the Zionist dream of building and maintaining a Jewish State among the comity… Read More »