Parashat Vayeseh begins: “Yaakob left from Be’er Sheba, and he went to Haran.” Many commentators addressed the question of why the Torah needs to tell us here that Yaakob left from Be’er Sheba, his hometown. The ensuing verses...
Growing up, I would come home from school with stories of the Pilgrims and Indians joining together for a Thanksgiving feast. My mother would say that for a Jew, every day is Thanksgiving Day....
These are challenging times for our people, and for all good people. For Jews, one of most powerful resources for millennia has been thanksgiving and gratitude. In our transition, we express gratitude hundreds of times a day, at every step...
The Gemorah says that one may not earn money on Shabbos. Money earned on Shabbos is called sechar shabbos and is prohibited in order to prevent one from conducting business on Shabbos. The issur of sechar shabbos is even if the...
People are complicated and may fail to perform a mitzvah for many reasons, including those entirely beyond their control. Consider someone who bought a mezuzah from a reputable and pious seller, only to learn years later that a word...
What is the defining difference between us Jews and the surrounding society? There are several, but if I had to choose one, I would say: the tattoo. The most significant and fundamental difference between us and them is...
Worse Than Color Blind: Seeing The Color, But Not the Soup This week’s parsha, contains the famous story of the selling of the birthright. Yaakov cooks a pot of lentil soup. Eisav comes in, tired from the field, and says...
When Leah had her third child, she explained, “Hapa’am yilave ishi eilai – This time my husband will walk alongside of me.” And the Torah concludes, “Al kein, kara sh’mo Levi – Therefore, she called her son Levi...
After World War Two, the Germans offered to give money to Jewish people, called reparations, to atone for what they did and to express their regret. There was a hot machlokes among gedolei Yisrael about whether Yidden should accept the money. Some gedolim said, “Take...
And Yaakov said, sell to me as of today, your birthright. Bereishis 25:31 Sources that a Person Can Sell Mitzvos and their Reward The Gemara (Menachos 72b) teaches that if two kohanim receive portions of a korban containing equivalent amounts...