![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1968371524.jpg?itok=UCuQA1jP)
"G-d took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it, l'ovdah, and watch it, l'shomrah" (Breisheet 2:15…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1485602288.jpg?itok=AFtWEtNM)
People often mistakenly think that truly righteous people are somehow different, perhaps not totally "normal". Somehow we assume that…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1766804921.jpg?itok=MCfGUbvK)
"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…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1667829670.jpg?itok=arCZ7xPk)
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,…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_384658780.jpg?itok=urYqD6pv)
Our Sages attach the appellation Tzadik, righteous one, to Yosef, presumably because of his ability to withstand the sexual advances of Potiphar’s…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1935172121.jpg?itok=MKEyO2Yi)
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…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1386354968.jpg?itok=ai1lh5a1)
“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…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1919947511.jpg?itok=ahnuh3xs)
Our Sages identified each of our patriarchs and matriarchs with the character traits that they best exemplified. Avraham, the master of hospitality…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1767810080.jpg?itok=HjU2_5M4)
"And Sarah lived one hundred years, twenty years and seven years; these are the years of Sarah's life” (Breisheet 23:1). A famous…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1047403372.jpg?itok=oPg2JDMj)
One of the fundamental issues of debate amongst observant Jews regards the degree of openness with which one meets the surrounding culture. Should we…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_2011862210.jpg?itok=y9wZRyGi)
Our rabbis famously debate the righteousness of Noach. Was he a tzadik only relative to the corrupt society in which he lived, or was his…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_125572772.jpg?itok=Q2koIpD2)
For years, psychologists have debated the impact of the environment (nurture) on the development of human beings. Can we be inherently changed by…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1919346662.jpg?itok=juuYFZ7w)
The holidays of Tishrei—with their emphasis on sin, repentance, reconciliation, and joy—are behind us. It is time to get back to our “normal”…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1945230160.jpg?itok=lrlfIaIX)
“And Yaakov ripped his garments and put sackcloth on his loins, and he mourned for his son many days” (Breisheet 37:34). Thinking—…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1513151834.jpg?itok=LQv47TIS)
“Therefore, the Jewish people will not eat the gid hanasheh, sciatic nerve, that is on the hip joint, to this day” (Breisheet…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1274738161.jpg?itok=Gv8mOptZ)
“And there was a famine in the land, aside from the first famine that was in the days of Avraham...And G-d appeared to him [Yitzchak] and said…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_2004219872.jpg?itok=nh_AD1qW)
“And the people of Sedom were evil and sinners towards G-d beyond all measure” (Breisheet 13:13). Despite their depravity, Avraham Avinu…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/sheep-grazing.jpg?itok=DRBmHP0B)
"And there was an argument between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock, and the Canaanite and the…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1906949014.jpg?itok=my5FXlBv)
"And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were one hundred and forty seven years" (Breisheet 47:28…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1376630357.jpg?itok=8qGa3OWO)
Etiquette and diplomatic niceties are the hallmarks of the world of politics. Political leaders are trained to speak ambiguously and in a way that…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_748938460.jpg?itok=12QMO5cc)
How unfortunate when man must put his fate in the hands of other men. “And the warden had placed all the prisoners in the dungeon under Yosef…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/shutterstock_1907228209.jpg?itok=8RYyNnci)
The Talmud records that one who has no dreams for a period of seven days is called a wicked person (Brachot 55b). Dreams represent our innermost…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/winter-1732882_640.jpg?itok=lDxYGg-b)
The experiences of history have made our people a nervous lot. Whatever nervousness is warranted as members of the human race is significantly…
![](/sites/default/files/styles/square_big_600x/public/people-527647_640.jpg?itok=XKuyvTbv)
It is hard to imagine a more disparate couple than Yitzchak and Rivka, the quiet contemplative husband who would "meditate in the fields" (…