The parsha at work: A stiff-necked people? And your weaknesses?
How insights from the weekly Torah reading can help you with your career.
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Parshat Shavua
News and updates about Parshat Shavua
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on the parsha: We don't need an intermediary
What is the point of the tablets being readable on both their sides?
Ki Tisa: The buck stops here
In our parshah, we have two examples of the buck stops here. Purim has another.
Ki Tisa: How could Aharon have done what he did?
The Torah excuses no sins and gives no one a free pass on one’s negative behavior. But it leaves room for mitigating evil acts.
Eretz Yisrael in the parasha
Young religious Zionist rabbis: How the Beit Hamikdash enlightens the world acting as a spiritual lighthouse in the Holy Land.
It’s time for a heart-to-heart talk
If all the Jews 200 years ago were non-observant, there is little reason to believe that there would be a single Jew alive today.
Dress for success
Thoughts on Parshat Tetzaveh.
Terumah: Betzalel's Wisdom
Betzalel was certainly sharp to be able to reconstruct the original divine message. Why did Moses change the order that God had told him?
Sacred work - bringing people together
Leaders have to bring people together, especially those with disparate interests and backgrounds, to work towards a common purpose.
Are golden cherubs kosher?
If a cherub is okay, why not a golden calf? What is the difference?
The major identity test of life
In this week’s parsha of Terumah the Torah presents a challenge to human behavior.
Shabbat B'Shabbato- MIshpatim and Shekalim
A collection of Torah lectures on the parasha, and a picture conundrum.
These ordinances could only have been given at Sinai
Selected commentators explain the reasons ordinances between man and his fellow man had to be given at Sinai.
MIshpatim: The message of individual freedom
Governments that prach equality enslave others without a second thought.
MIshpatim: Why is the world in such a mess?
Why did G-d make a messy world only to dedicate an entire Torah portion to tell us how to clean up the mess?
Israel's first Chief Rabbi:
Yitro: Serving the Community
Israel's first Chief Rabbi: In what way is the work of a judge like creating the world?
The Parsha and Current Events: The life raft of survival
We are witness to the metamorphosis of western democracies as they change their colors to blood red antisemitism. What does this mean?
Yitro: Torah demands integrity
No ego and no pretentiousness. Ego is an acronym for edging G-d out.
Were the Children of Israel deprived of Free Will at Sinai?
Delving into the events surrounding this seminal and unconditional acceptance of Torah by Bnei Israel.
An altar of earth? Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parasha
This is one of the places in the Torah where Rabbi Hirsch's philosophy of Torah and Derekh Eretz can be understood.
Beshalach: Preparing for Sinai
Israel's first Chief Rabbi: How were the Mitzvot of Marah a prelude to receiving the Torah?
Jewish History is a study of the future
“Moses and the Children of Israel Will Sing...”
Beshalach: If not for them, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
We need to show more respect to parents and grandparents.
Confusion and control: Thoughts on Parshat Beshalach
The best leaders make everyone smarter.
Beshalach: A woman's poem?
Women are those who welcomed the men returning from battle in ancient times.
Eretz Yisrael in the parasha: The Song of the Sea
What brought the Israelites to think of Eretz Yisrael and the Beit Hamikdash in the Song of the Sea, when they have just been rescued?
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch on the parsha: Would you have trusted G-d?
There was absolutely no precedent, there was only faith.
The Parsha and Current Events: Self-esteem
A Jew can walk with head held high in New York, Moscow and Berlin because of the Medina.
Beshalach: Momentous moments in history
We can relive the event intellectually and positively in an historic vein but the emotional grandeur of the moment evaporates over time.
The staff which was taken, not to be used
Why did Moshe take his staff with him to the top of the hill in the Amalek battle, as seemingly he did not perform any act with it?’
Why did Hashem make a mockery of Egypt?
What purpose does making a mockery of those who mock Hashem and mistreat His people?
Bo: Donkey-Holiness?
Israel's first Chief Rabbi: The impurity of the Jewish people, as with the donkey, was only on the surface, hiding a great inner holiness.
Who was responsible for the Jewish Exodus from Egypt?
The exodus from Egypt taught us that words, such as those spoken by Moshe and Aaron,are not enough to move masses of Jews to return home.
Leadership and the prayer community Thoughts on Parshat Bo
Crisis makes leaders and breaks leaders.
Shabbat B'Shabbato for Parshat Bo
Religious Zionists of America brings you special features, divrei Torah on the Parasha - and a quiz.
Bo: It’s not just the thought that counts!
The Aramaic translation of Onkelos, translates totafot as tefillin, in the plural. Why?
Vaeira: When you discover you're like no other
The capacity to challenge cherished beliefs and reigning institutional norms – rubbed off on the Jewish people/
Modern Paganism : Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch on the parasha
Sanctifying our desires is pagan, not Jewish. Pleading victimhood to external forces is likewise pagan, not Jewish.
Eretz Yisrael in the Parasha: What is the meaning of 'morasha'?
Young religious Zionist Torah scholars connect the parasha to the Land of Israel.
Vaeira: Would not one great plague alone have sufficed?
After all, in the past century we witnessed how two bombs forced the powerful and fanatical Japanese Empire to surrender unconditionally.
The Parsha and Current Events: confusion and perplexity!
History teaches that human intelligence cannot provide us with clarity when the forces of confusion band together, but they are a sign.
Vaeira: Aaron's wondrous staff-swallowing staff
An eye-opening review of the commentators' explanations on the purpose of the staff and the miracle involved.
Holy men who have left us
Spiritual giants all, we can learn much from their lives.
What did the Jews do wrong?
The Torah does not describe to us the process by which the situation so radically changed for Jews in Egypt. Nor how Moshe grew to lead.
Shemot: Moses' mistake
Why did Moses doubt God’s plan? How could the “master of all prophets” so gravely misjudge his own people?
The birth of greatness
The psychological burning bush.
Shemot:Making it good
In Jewish law, we bless on the bad as we bless on the good. That is imitating God.
The Parsha and Current Events: From Moses to Moshe Rabbeinu
How was it possible to refuse Hashem for even a moment, let alone seven days and nights?
What does it mean to be a leader?
The moral paradox embodied by Jacob in his final moments, as he moves the gift of kingship from Reuben to Judah, is astonishing.
The importance of burial in the Land of Israel
Why does it matter where one is buried?
The Parsha and Current Events: Recovery & Hope
What would you give to be present at that time in Avraham's tent together with the ministering angels? When Jacob blessed his sons?
Yaakov Avinu: God is my shepherd
Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh,Alshich Hakadosh, Malbim and others on the double clause in Yaakov's blessing to his beloved Yosef.
God will remember you
People who study Parashat Vayechi are people who do not get excited about media storms. Here is why.
The Wars of Gad
There are five different ward of Gad. Which one did Yaakov refer to?.
Vayechi: Tying up the loose pieces
Some of the "final words" and "small print" at the end of the contract ending the book of Bereishit.
Do we need more zealotry? Rav Shimshon R. Hirsch on the parsha
Most of us understand Jacob's words to mean that Shimon and Levi’s zealotry must be diffused. Rabbi Hirsch differs.
Vayigash: The Shepherd-Philosopher
Israel's iconic first Chief Rabbi: Our imagination dominates our thought processes.
Why does descending to Egypt frighten Jacob?
A selection of commentators whoweigh in on this troubling question and their psychologically enlightening answers.
How could Joseph command his father: Come down to me
As viceroy, Joseph could have visited his elderly father, ensured he has ample food. What was the point of telling him to come to Egypt?
The Parsha and Current Events: Israel Is for Real
The major thrust of Pharaoh’s dreams as compared to Nebuchadnezzer's dreams - what do they say about the future of humanity?