היכול לנדב תמיד קשה לנו לתרום חלק מההון החומרי שלנו. החושים שלנו אומרים לנו שמה ששייך לנו, שהרווחנו בזיעת אפנו, צריך להישאר שלנו וברשותנו. אם נשתמש בביטוי של חז"ל, עיננו צרה בזולת ואנחנו נוטרים לנזקקים טינה על כך שהם... READ MORE →
The full acceptance – the naaseh v’nishma – we will do and we will hearken – of the Torah by the Jewish people appears in this week’s parsha rather than in last week’s parsha where the actual description of the revelation at Mount Sinai is recorded. We are all quite aware that the maxim that the devil lies in the details is incontrovertibly and unerringly correct. General acceptance... READ MORE →
There are differing opinions as to when exactly Yitro appeared in the camp of the Israelites in the desert. There are those who follow the rabbinic dictum that one cannot infer chronological order from the juxtaposition of narratives as they appear in the Torah. Rashi definitely adheres to this view in many instances. However Ramban and others maintain that a general chronology of events can... READ MORE →
The miracles performed by God through Moshe and Aharon, are topped off in this week’s parsha by the splitting of Yam Suf and the final deliverance of the Jewish people from the oppression of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. We are then further witness to the miracle of the manna falling six times a week to sustain the Jewish people in the Sinai desert and the ongoing miracle of water supplied to... READ MORE →
The extraordinary devotion of the Torah to all of the intricate details of the celebration of Pesach and of its sacrifice strikes one as demanding explanation. After all, the Torah will command many mitzvoth to the Jewish people in the course of the next books of the Torah, without necessarily going into particulars and details about their method of observance. All of that, so to speak, was... READ MORE →
Pharaoh and Egypt sustain a slew of plagues and misfortunes as they are vividly recorded in this week’s parsha. There are those among the Egyptian leadership who waver and realize that Egypt is lost if it does not allow the Jews to be freed from slavery and to leave Egypt. But Pharaoh is still not convinced. His heart is not only hardened but it is unalterably predisposed to refuse the... READ MORE →
In this week’s parsha we are introduced to the most central figure in all of Jewish history - even in all civilized history, our teacher Moshe. The Torah, as is its wont, does not tell us many details about the life of Moshe from the time he was just past twenty years of age, fleeing from Pharaoh’s wrath at his killing of an Egyptian taskmaster, until his reemergence as the leader of the... READ MORE →
The holy book of Bereshith comes to its conclusion in this week’s parsha. The story of the creation of the Jewish people through the development of one family over a number of generations and by the perseverance of the great personalities of our patriarchs and matriarchs is now complete. This raises the question originally posed in Rashi’s commentary to the very beginning of the book of... READ MORE →
ספר בראשית מגיע לסיומו בפרשת השבוע. הסיפור של בריאת העולם ושל התפתחות העם היהודי ממשפחה אחת לאורך כמה דורות עם התמדה ועקשנות של האבות והאמהות הגדולים שלנו, מגיע כעת לסיומו. זה מעלה שוב את השאלה שמציג רש"י בפירושו... READ MORE →
The apparent hero and victor in the epic narrative of the saga of Yosef and his brothers that reaches its culmination in this week’s parsha is certainly Yosef. His dreams and ambitions are fulfilled. His brothers and father have bowed down before him as the prophecy of his dreams indicated. He takes no further revenge against his brothers. He houses them and Yaakov in security and prosperity... READ MORE →
