“Then Judah went up to him and said,” B’reysheet / Genesis 44:18 The opening verse in our Torah portion is generally rendered, as the JPS translation above does, to indicate that Judah moves closer to the Egyptian vizier before beginning his impassioned plea on behalf of his brother Benjamin. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk suggests that this may Continue Reading »
After two years’ time, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, when out of the Nile there came up seven cows, handsome and sturdy, and they grazed in the reed grass. But presently, seven other cows came up from the Nile close behind them, ugly and gaunt, and stood beside the cows on the bank Continue Reading »
This morning, we woke to hear terrifying and tragic news about the terrorist attack on Jews gathered to celebrate the first night of Hannukah on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Throughout the world we stand together with all Jews as “Am ehad im lev ehad – one people with one heart,” offering one another solace and strength Continue Reading »
Hanukkah is a winter holiday. It shines light in the darkest time of year. Each night we add another light, increasing until the entire Hanukkah menorah is illuminated. The lights have been kindled in millions of homes over thousands of years. It was not always easy: Already in the Talmud there are provisions for lighting Continue Reading »
And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba — now Hebron — where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. Isaac was a hundred and eighty years old when he breathed his last and died. He was gathered to his kin in ripe old age; and he was buried by his sons Esau and Jacob. Continue Reading »
Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and your descendants. (B’reysheet / Genesis 28:14) Rabbi Aharon Levin1 begins his comment by noting that the Continue Reading »
And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become far too big for us.” So, Isaac departed from there and encamped in the wadi of Gerar, … But when Isaac’s servants, digging in the wadi, found there a well of spring water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The Continue Reading »
Sarah’s lifetime-the span of Sarah’s life-came to one hundred and twenty-seven years. Sarah died in Kiriath-arba-now Hebron-in the land of Canaan; and Abraham proceeded to mourn for Sarah and to bewail her. Then Abraham rose from beside his dead, and spoke to the Hittites, saying, “I am a resident alien among you; sell me a burial site among Continue Reading »
The Lord appeared to him by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. (B’reysheet / Genesis 18:1) Rabbi Menachem Mendel Krengil (1) echoes the question asked by centuries of biblical commentators regarding the unusual phrasing of Continue Reading »
Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired (literally, made) in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. Breysheet / Genesis 12:5 The souls which Abram had brought beneath the sheltering Continue Reading »
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