Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha: Vaera

What is "morasha"?

Religious Zionist scholars find and explain connections between Torah readings and the Holy Land. This week: The Land of Israel as a "morasha."

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi: Vaera

Hamotzi - For all times

What is the difference between motzi and ha-motzi?

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Vaera

The awesome Might of G-d

The miracles in Egypt demonstrate to our ancestors and to us through every generation the awesome Might of God.

Parashat Vaera:

The profound mystery of Moshe's assignment

Moshe is advised that he need only perform the task, and the success of the mission is totally in the hands of God, Who will cause the goal to be achieved against all odds, as it were.

The First Commandment: Find the courage to heal

"Let My People Go!" But Can They Let Themselves Go?

Parashat Vaera:

You must CHOOSE Hashem!

Why would Hashem give Moshe, as evidence for Pharaoh, something which could be reproduced by others and thus undermine its claim to be supernatural?

Parashat Vaera:

The Parsha and Current Events: Prepare

There are serious reasons to suspect that the Egyptians are preparing for war, although they are not seriously threatened by any enemy. This is a sign of the pre-Mashiach period.

Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha:

What is the 'gomeh' that lined Moses' ark?

Religious Zionist scholars find and explain connections between Torah readings and the Holy Land. This week: Milk and honey, tsaddikim, 'gomeh'.

Shemot:

Responding to evil: Then and now

None of us has the power to prevent this deal from happening. Not even the few Cabinet Ministers who ideologically oppose it can prevent it. So ar we guilty of it?

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Shmot

Egypt and Amalek

The Pnei Menachem writes: Similar to the destruction of Amalek, which occurs after they damage the kingdom of God in the world, so too the Egyptians were punished. What does he mean by that?

'These are the names' - a haunting title for this week's parsha

Names truly reflect the forces with which the creation, so named, was created.

Torah Mitzion:

Shifra and Puah: Defiant midwives, deliverers of a Nation

Saving one life can be as impactful as saving an entire nation.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch: Shmot

A most unusual baby

Moshe didn't draw attention to himself, even as an infant.

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch on the parsha

Vayechi: The road to the heart

Yosef targeted his brothers' feelings by appealing to their minds.

The theme of Vayigash and Vayechi: Jews belong in Eretz Yisrael

Like the majority of Jews in Mitzrayim, that 80% that would not leave, if they don’t come home to Israel they will be lost.

Vayechi:

Constructive speech prevents harmful speech

On the surface, battle are won with weapons and battle tactics. Beneath the surface, they are won because our minds and tongues were preoccupied with prayer.

Vayechi:

The blessed partnership of Yissachar and Zevulun

Those engaged in commerce, must sustain those engaged in Torah, and, further, they themselves are thereby deemed to be engaged in Torah toil!

Is it blessed to be like a fish?

We specifically bless our children to be like Ephraim and Menashe and we bless them with the words of Hamalach Hagoel Oti, that they too be like fish.

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Vayigash

What part of Judah's speech touched Joseph's heart?

The stories of our ancestors are recorded for us in the Torah as a lesson for the generations. Joseph did not act for reasons of personal revenge, but with a spiritual motive that should guide us.

Torah Mitzion:

Path of Menashe

Menashe's synthesizing role—balancing Joseph's universalism with Judah's particularism.

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi

How to make your voice heard

D’var Torah for Parshat Vayigash.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Vayigash: Yaakov's strange answer

G-d wants us to accomplish, not just exist.

Vayigash:

The dependable sibling

Just because we are dependable doesn’t mean we are constant. Just because we are constant doesn’t mean we are dependable. In which category do Joseph's brothers fall? And where are we?

Vayigash:

'I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?'

Why did Joseph ask a question to which he had already been give the answer?

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Miketz

How Joseph achieved greatness

“For God was with him - the name of God was always on his lips.”

Miketz:

Why was Pharaoh blown away by Joseph?

The State of the Jewish Nation means navigating paradox.

Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha: Miketz

"Everything that happened to Joseph happened to Zion"

Young, Religious Zionist Torah scholars explore the connection between the Toraph portion of the week and the Holy Land.

Torah Mitzion:

The secret of Hanukkah in the promise to Aharon HaKohen

Rashi explains the juxtaposition of the section on the menorah to the section on the offerings of the princes, but what does it mean for our time?

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi

First, establish the facts…

If you want to solve a problem, you need to have the facts, whether they are needed to solve Pharaoh's dreams or the was in Gaza and Lebanon.

Pharaoh: There is no one as wise and discerning as you, Joseph

Who asked Yosef to offer his advice, in addition to proffering the solution to the dream, with which he was charged?

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Vayeishev: The special teshuvah of Reuben

After repairing his soul, Reuben returned and looked at the pit.

The Parsha and Current Events:

Sudden and extreme changes

Something big is happening now in our world; changes which are on a Biblical scale.

Torah Mitzion:

The ancient source of Jewish resilience

Jewish resilience is incomparable, but when we understand who our ancestors were and the values they inculcated into us, we begin to understand where it comes from.

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi

How can we bring peace between rivals?

Parashat Vayeishev portrays the dilemma of Jacob and his rival sons.

Parashat Vayeishev:

The impure sources of Redemption

First, how could the Mashiach be the product of a problematic union? Surely his ancestry has to be unblemished!

Israel's 1st Chief Rabbi:

Vayishlach: Pillars and sanctuaries

Why does it matter whether the worshippers gather around a pillar outside or pray inside a sanctuary? 

Vayishlach:

Do you have everything?

The truth is that no one person can have everything.

Parshat Vayishlach:

Sciatic nerve - or loss of nerve?

The story of Jacob and the angel points to a time when the Jewish people will stand at the edge of return to their ancestral homeland, but hesitate to take the final step.

Truth to Yaakov

The essence of Yaakov is truth=emet, in its truest form.

Vayetze:

The omission of a blank space in the Torah-the Story of a People

No missing links.

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi:

Vayetzei: How do you respond to your dreams?

Our dream, right now, is “Beshuv Hashem et-shivat Tziyyon” — “May Hashem enable the captives of Zion to come home.”

The Parsha and Current Events:

A many splendored thing

To love being Jewish is to strive to be as close to Hashem as humanly possible. And to be close to Hashem means to live in the land He gave the Jewish people.

Torah Mitzion:

The ladder

Why did Hashem send Yaakov the angels on the ladder vision now?

Are you yearning for the Land?

Over and over, the Book of Bereshit emphasizes the centrality of Eretz Yisrael to Jewish life. Instead of merely reading through the events described in the Torah portion “Vayetze” in a superficial fashion, let’s take a deeper look through the eyes of our Sages.

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Toldot

How can the Sages ascribe the attribute of truth to Jacob?

The actions of the Patriarchs were not performed in their time for their needs alone, but to give strength to their descendants. How did Jacob's tricking his father fall into that category?

Le’David Barchi Nafshi:

A woman of virtue who can find? Why Abraham sent Eliezer to Haran

Why not choose a wife for Yitschak from the families in Canaan? At a deeper level, the problem with the people of the land was not that they were idolatrous, but something harder to change.

Chayei Sarah:

The Parsha and Current Events: Four eulogies

On the 34th Yahrzeit (18th of Cheshvan) of my brother Ha’Rav Meir David Kahana z"l

Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha:

The altar that stood from the beginning of time

Young religious Zionist Torah scholars find allusions to Eretz Yisrael in the weekly parsha.

Office of the UK Chief Rabbi

The Akeida was a major misunderstanding

So what was this all about?

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Vayera

That which is most dear to us may be taken and dedicated to God.

Abraham's great test shows that dedication to God must not simply be a result of a Divine decree, but that we must rise to the level of feeling love and great happiness in fulfilling His Word.

Vayera:

Pointers on hospitality

Guests do more for the host than the host does for them. The guests get a meal and a place to sleep while the host derives immense satisfaction and pleasure from providing for them - and merits a mitzva besides.

The Parsha and Current Events:

Virtue and deficiency

A significant portion of the Dutch population remains passive and even hostile towards Jews, maintaining virulent anti-Semitic sentiments. That explains what has occurred on a deeper level.

Le’David Barchi Nafshi: Lech Lecha

The value of our own efforts

Abraham shows un that one must act to save himself, but also pray for G-d's salvation in case it does not work out.

One man heard G-d's call - and the rest is history

Spending a lifetime polishing my coping mechanisms, how do I hear the call?

Lech Lecha:

The Parsha and Current Events: What Trump could mean for Israel

Beware becoming too intertwined with America.

Le’David Barchi Nafshi:

Breishit: Life lessons in the story of Cain and Abel

Man left alone in his nature is pulled downwards. The Torah pushes us to hope for the future, to make progress, and to find new pathways to be productive at every moment in time.

Torah Mitzion:

Bereshit - The Tree of Life

What can we learn from the Torah's description of the "Tree of Life" situated in "the midst of the garden", in the centre of the garden?

Le’David Barchi Nafshi:

Haazinu: G-d's servants or His sons?

Only through the combination of two attributes can we fulfill completely the words of the Song that promise: “because it will never be lost from the mouth of their offspring”

The Parsha and Current Events: Forgiveness

There is one scenario which prevents the gentile world from forgiving us for living. It is Jewish boys, born in our Alt-Neuland, sitting under the canopies of F-16s and F-35s and bombing the hell out of Arab Nazis who live only to annihilate the Jewish people.

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch:

Haazinu: Looking for an excuse

Denying religious truth is often convenient.