After wallowing in prison on trumped up charges for two years, Joseph is finally released. Pharaoh has a dream and it is recognized that the only one that can properly interpret it for him is Joseph. Joseph proceeds to tell Pharaoh that his dream connotes a period of seven years of prosperity in Egypt followed…
In the Torah section of VaYeshev, the Torah informs us of a series of events in the life of Joseph, first of two sons to his mother Rachel, the favored wife of Jacob. Like his mother, Joseph was favored by his father. “And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons since he was a…
In the beginning of the Torah section of VaYishlach, we read that Jacob sent malakhim “to Esav his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom” (Bereshit 32:4). The word malakhim in this verse could be interpreted as messengers. However, Rashi ad locum interprets the word to mean angels. In light of his…
We read in the beginning of the Torah section of Vayetze, “Jacob departed from Beer-sheva and went towards Haran” (Bereshit 28:10). Jacob leaves his parents to go to his uncle Lavan, in order to escape his evil brother Esav as well as to find a wife among his uncle’s daughters, as per his parents’ advice….
The Torah portion Chaye Sara begins with informing us of the passing of our first matriarch, Sarah. “Sarah’s lifetime was one hundred years, twenty years, and seven years, the years of Sarah’s life. Sarah died in Kiryat Arba which is Hebron … and Abraham came to Sarah and to bewail her” (Bereshit 23:1-2). After this,…
In his attempt to prove that “truth is subjectivity,” the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard argues that the least evolved of all human beings is the aesthetic man whose sole goal is self-indulgence and pleasure and the avoidance of pain and boredom. In contrast, the ethical man chooses to dwell within the sphere of duty. However,…
In the Torah section of Lekh Lekha (Bereshit 14:13), we read, “And the fugitive came and told Abram.” On this verse, Rashi comments, in accordance with Bereshit Rabbah, that this fugitive was Og, who later waged war with the Israelites, descendents of Abraham. Og informed Abraham of Lot’s capture with the intended purpose of getting…
In the beginning of the Torah section of Noach (Bereshit 6:13), we read, “And G-d said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with robbery through them; and behold, I am about to destroy them from the earth’”. Rashi, as per the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a,…
In the beginning of the Torah reading of Bereshit, we find the verse, “And G-d made the beast of the earth according to its kind, and the animal according to its kind, and every creeping being of the ground according to its kind, and G-d saw that it was good” (Bereshit 1:25). On this verse,…
In Vayikra 23:34, G-d commands Moses to inform the people of Israel, “On the fifteenth day of this seventh month [Tishre] shall be the feast of Tabernacles.” For seven days in the Land of Israel and for eight days in the diaspora we are to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot followed by the holiday of…
