“Vayigash, and he approached”. The parsha opens with Yehuda pleading to Yosef on behalf of his youngest brother, Binyamin. Picture it. Yosef, Viceroy to the Pharaoh, sitting on a regal throne. His brothers standing before him....
Transformation of a Brother Yosef could not contain his tears, nor can we, when we read each year the story of how after a feud and separation that endured for twenty-two years, the Prime Minister of Egypt, Yosef, reveals...
Patrilineal descent and intermarriage are the problem, not the solution. The recent Jewish People Policy Institute study found that outside of Orthodoxy, fewer Jews are getting married, those marrying are marrying later and having fewer children and intermarriage rates are...
I. Home For Chanukah Chanukah occupies an unusual place in halachah. Most mitzvos fall on the individual. Chanukah’s primary mitzvah devolves on the location, not the person. The Gemara (Shabbos 21b) does not describe the obligation as lighting a candle...
Chanukkah is one of two holidays that the Rabbis instituted to celebrate great miracles that happened to our nation, the other, of course, being Purim. Several differences exist between the way we observe Chanukkah and the way we observe...
And my silver goblet, you shall place in the knapsack of the youngest...
With great responsibility comes great power! The drama continues. A disguised Yosef is keeping Shimon locked up and threatening to deny any more food to Yaakov’s family until the youngest is brought down to Egypt. Desperate and...
Pharaoh had troubling dreams. None of his sorcerers or dream interpreters could satisfactorily explain them. Finally, the Sar HaMashkim (wine butler), who had been released from prison a couple of years prior, popped up and told Pharaoh “Es chata’ai ani...
At this time of the year, many American homes are lit-up in a sea of brilliantly colored lights. When our children pass by these homes they are likely to comment enchantingly, “How pretty they are.” A precocious child might...
The Rebbe of Ruzhin zt’l said, “What tzaddikim are able to accomplish on Rosh Hashanah and on Yom Kippur, a simple Yid can accomplish on Zos Chanukah.” The explanation may be that Chanukah is a time of miracles. Therefore, a drop...