In this week’s Parsha, Parshas Terumah, we are commanded regarding the building of the Mishkan, the portable Sanctuary where G-d’s Presence was to dwell, as the Israelites sojourned through the desert.  In the command to collect the materials for the construction of the Mishkan, the...

In this week’s parsha, Parshas Mishpatim, the Torah says that “Six days you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest” (Ex.23:12). In last week’s parsha, Parshas Yisro, we were already commanded regarding the Shabos, which is the fourth of the...

Yesterday was Tu B’Shvat.  The New Year for Trees falls during the winter.  All things considered, winter is an interesting season in which to celebrate this new year!  Of all seasons, this seems the one least likely to be “tree-centered.”  Spring - the blossoms, buds...

In this week’s parsha, Parshas Bo, the Israelites are commanded regarding the first national mitzvah, that of Kidush Ha’Chodesh, the sanctification of the new month: הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים - this month is for you, the first of the months (Ex.12:2).  In fact, this...

This week, as we once again open the book of Shemos, we learn about the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt and their subsequent miraculous redemption.  The Sages teach that it was in the merit of our righteous foremothers of that generation that the nation...

Redemption - In this week’s Parsha, Parshas Vayechi, Yaakov dies at the age of 147 years, and Yosef dies at the age of 110 years.  With their demise, and the passage of years, the Jews are soon to meet the tortures of the Egyptian enslavement.  What...