“And these are the journeys of the people of Israel” (33:1). The Torah lists over 40 stops along the long and winding route the…
Pesach: Sunrise in Bnei Brak
“It happened that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were reclining in B’nei Brak…
Kedoshim: Seeking Holiness
The line between greatness and failure is so small as to be unrecognizable, often revealing itself only after many years. This is true in the world…
Metzora: Talk It Up
Our Rabbis saw a link between the spiritual sin of lashon hara, slander and gossip, and the physical disease of tzara'at. At the…
VaYakhel: Seven Days a Week
The primacy of Shabbat as the foundation stone of Judaism is self-evident. Shabbat is the culmination of the creation process; two distinct…
Ki Tisa: Striving for 100%
We have all been taught that it is the holiday of Shavuot that commemorates the giving of the Torah at Sinai. Interestingly, nowhere is this…
Mishpatim: It's Not Who You Know
Knowing the right people is, more often than not, the key to success in the modern world. We in North America refer to “connections”, but in…
Beshalach: War Time
Our long sojourn in Egypt was meant to develop those character traits necessary to transform the Jewish people into G-d's special nation. We were…
Bo: Alarm Clock
“And Pharaoh awoke, he and all his officials and all the rest of Egypt. There was a great cry, as there was no house where there was no death…
Vayigash: Below the Surface
“He kissed all his brothers and wept on their shoulders, and afterwards his brothers spoke with him” (45:14). What a change from twenty-two…
Chanukah: Down Memory Lane
We tend to assume that, with the recital of the shir shel yom, the daily psalm—or Aleinu if you daven nusach sefarad, Shacharit is over.…
Vayishlach: Two is a Crowd
It is for good reason that co-wives are described as tzarot, literally, problems. Competing as they inevitably must for the same man, their…
VaYera: Late Arrival
Our Sages assert that the Torah pre-dates the creation of the world, in essence serving as the architectural blueprint of creation. This is a…
Sukkot: Seeing Double
This week’s d’var Torah is sponsored by Gershon and Leah Vandenbrink with best wishes for a joyous Sukkot. In rabbinic literature, Sukkot is known…
Yom Kippur: Just a Minute
The death of the righteous atones, our Sages teach, and it is for this reason that during Mussaf of Yom Kippur, just after recounting the special…
Rosh Hashanah: The Right Focus
“On Rosh Hashanah, it is written; and on Yom Kippur, it is sealed, who shall live and who shall die…” (Machzor). It is doubtful…
Vaera: The Right Reason
Sometimes the reason why one does something can be even more important than what was actually done. While our Sages note that one should strive to…
Lech Lecha: A Loving Son
“And Terach’s years were 205 years, and Terach died in Charan. G-d said to Abram, Go away from your land, your birthplace and from…