Parshat Pinchas presents us with at least three distinct models of leadership. Our parsha gets its name from the zealotry of Pinchas who, without…
"Take Aaron, and Elazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his vestments, and dress Elazar his son in them; Aaron shall…
It is most difficult to solve a problem if the protagonists will not meet with each other and hear each other out. While there is no guarantee that…
It is amazing how selective our memory can be. People often yearn for the good old days: days full of poverty, pogroms and peddling. The ability to…
Judaism has long insisted that we give people the benefit of the doubt: one is innocent until proven guilty. It is always difficult to…
A mark of a good book is a clear and coherent structure. The opening chapters set the tone, themes are appropriately developed, and the conclusion…
“You shall count seven complete weeks from the day following the Shabbat from the day you brought the omer as a wave offering seven…
"This is the law of the sin offering, chatat: at the place where the elevation offering, olah, is slaughtered shall the sin offering be…
Perhaps Man’s greatest fear is his ultimate irrelevance, that we really don’t make a difference and that in the greater scheme of things…
“And it was on first month of the second year on the first of the month that the Tabernacle was erected” (Shemot 40:17). The first of…
"And the people saw ki boshesh Moshe, that Moshe delayed in coming down from the mountain" (32:1). As a young nation coming from…
Judaism sees the sparks of the Divine within the most mundane of activities. Revelation at Sinai is followed by a series of laws dealing with such…
One of the revolutions that Judaism brought to the world was its attitude towards, and its treatment of, slaves. Whereas in the ancient world slaves…
Fulfilling G-d's commandments is the essence of Torah. "If not for my covenant, day and night, the laws of heaven and earth, I would…
“And Pharaoh approached...they saw the Egyptians marching at their rear, and the people became very frightened. The Israelites cried out to G-d…
Judaism places great emphasis on the proper use of time. For serious students there is practically no greater sin than that of bitul Torah—the…
Moshe was frustrated. Having been coerced by G-d to redeem the Jewish people, things were not going as planned. As Moshe confronted Pharaoh,…
Amongst the unsung heroes of the Jewish people are Shifra and Puah. Despite the genocidal decrees of the Egyptian regime against Jewish newborns,…
People often mistakenly think that truly righteous people are somehow different, perhaps not totally "normal". Somehow we assume that…
"And he [Yaakov] sent Judah ahead of him l'horot, to make preparations, in Goshen (Breisheet 46:28). With great fear and trepidation, Yaakov, along…
That one has a natural love for one's place of birth is a truism long recognized by our Talmudic sages. Emigration is never an easy prospect,…
Our Sages attach the appellation Tzadik, righteous one, to Yosef, presumably because of his ability to withstand the sexual advances of Potiphar’s…
How common it is for people to return from a funeral and realize how little they knew about the deceased. All too often, it is only after a person…
“And Yaakov was a pure man, dwelling in the tents” (Breisheet 25:27). Like his father before him, Yaakov had little interest in the wider…