Articles

Bereishis · Parshas Noach

So Much More Than Just Stealing

The deeper meaning of the word hamas (חמס) as used in the Torah - and its eerie echo in the terrorist organization which bears the same...

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4 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Lech Lecha

The Eighth Day — Now What?

What is so special about the number 8? And how does it relate to Brit Milah?

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4 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Vayera

When G-d Asked for Everything

For many of us, the idea that Avraham would be willing to sacrifice Yitzchak without voicing a single objection seems beyond comprehens...

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3 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Chayei Sarah

Where Tefillah Grows

At the end of this parasha, Rivka is on her way to meet Yitzchak for the first time, and the Torah describes what Yitzchak is doing at...

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8 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Toldos

The Purposely Unclear Prophecy

Who is it that decides what prophecies actually mean?

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5 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Vayetzei

The Unity Hidden Within the Division

What the rocks at Yaakov's head can teach us about true achdus

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2 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Vayishlach

The Story Within the Story

Let's go back to October 8th. Not to Gaza, but to Lebanon and Hezbollah — to the growing awareness of the massive threat they posed. So...

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Bereishis · Parshas Vayeishev

The Art of Bitachon

NOTE: I was not able to finish this article before Shabbos. I therefore added several addendums throughout the article\ to clarify a fe...

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12 parts

Bereishis · Parshas Mikeitz

What Yaakov Needed to Hear

The brothers have come back from Egypt, but the famine isn't over. What's more, Shimon is still there. So they will have to return agai...

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Bereishis · Parshas Vayigash

The Place Power Cannot Go

A meeting of two power structures within the Jewish family — and the one space raw power cannot reach.

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Bereishis · Parshas Vayechi

When Life Looks Like Death

I find the name of this week's Parsha quite interesting. ויחי And he lived...

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Bereishis · Parshas Vayechi

Why Were Ephraim and Manasseh Different?

Ephraim and Menashe were raised wholly inside Egypt — yet stayed. The koach of belonging that survives total immersion.

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Shemos · Parshas Shemos

Why Sefer Shemos Begins Where it should Not

Why the opening of Sefer Shemos interrupts the narrative flow to repeat what we already know

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8 parts

Shemos · Parshas Vaera

The Names of G-d: What Moshe Heard that the Avos Never "Knew

E-lokim, Y-K-V-K, & what it means to truly know G-d

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6 parts

Shemos · Parshas Bo

Who and Who is Going?

Why Paro Asked a Question He Already Knew the Answer To

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9 parts

Shemos · Parshas Beshalach

The Miracle Within the Natural

Freedom. That is where we start this week's parsha — with full freedom. Paro attacks. G-d responds. We sing. And now we are free. But t...

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11 parts

Shemos · Parshas Yisro

Anochi Hashem Elokecha: The Command that Was Never Commanded

What Hashem wanted us to know before anything else

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9 parts

Shemos · Parshas Mishpatim

The Most Misunderstood Line in the Torah

There's a certain kind of question that motivates me. It's when you come across a phrase in the Torah — a law or idea — that seems crue...

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5 parts

Shemos · Parshas Terumah

Three Things Promised, One Thing Given

G-d promised Moshe the Luchos, the Torah, and the Mitzvah. Only the Luchos arrived. Where are the Torah and the Mitzvah?

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5 parts

Shemos · Parshas Tetzaveh

Upstream: Stones, Names, and the Return to Eden

Before I even open the parsha, I already know what I want to explore. It's the stones. The precious jewels — or more accurately, the pr...

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11 parts

Shemos · Parshas Ki Sisa

The Cheit Ha'Egel

It is forty days later. Forty days (and forty nights) after HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Moshe to go up the mountain to get the Luchos, the...

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20 parts

Shemos · Parshas Vayakhel-Pekudei

The Theme of Sefer Shemos

We are at the end of Sefer Shemos, and I want to take a step back and look at the sefer as a whole. Not to construct a single grand the...

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14 parts

Vayikra · Parshas Vayikra

The Real Beginning

We ended last time learning how much weight the word וַיִּקְרָא carries at the opening of the sefer. Not just that G-d called to Moshe...

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10 parts

Vayikra · Parshas Tzav

The Fire That Must Not Go Out

How the fire of the mizbeach joins heaven and earth.

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6 parts

Vayikra · Parshas Shemini

Clothed for the Eighth Day

Garments, hands, and the making of the Kehunah.

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15 parts

Vayikra · Parshas Tazria-Metzora

The Interruption

Sefer Vayikra is building toward Yom Kippur — and then, mid-story, the Torah turns away to kashrus, tumah, and tahara. A search for why...

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6 parts

Chagim · Pesach

G-d Went to War

A walk through the makkos, one by one — reading each blow not only as a punishment but as a revelation of what Egypt did, worshipped, r...

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8 parts