“Seek out G-d when He can be found, call upon Him when He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). Our Sages interpret this verse as referring to the Aseret Yemei…
Rosh Hashanah: From Fear to Hope
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the coronation of G-d as King of the universe. And having G-d as our King is worthy of celebration. Rosh Hashanah is…
Ki Teze: The Story Behind the Law
A legal brief and a good story are two very different forms of writing. We have even coined a term, legalese, to note the distinct writing style…
Re'eh: A Missing Heart
“Do not harden your heart and do not close your hand from your impoverished brother” (15:7). The mitzvah of tzedakah requires that we open our hearts…
Devarim: Location, Location, Location
Location, location, location are the central pillars of real estate. The same can be said for Jews throughout history. One's location often…
Massei: Journeys
“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…