25 Kislev 5781 - Chanukah. On the evening of 25 Kislev, corresponding to Thursday evening, December 10, we kindle the first Chanukah candles. With the holiday of Chanukah, we commemorate and celebrate the victory of the small Maccabee army over the mighty Syrian-Greek forces, who...
As this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayishlach, opens, Yaakov and his family - his four wives and twelve children - are preparing for the historic confrontation with Eisav. After twenty years of separation, would Eisav still harbor hatred in his heart against Yaakov, and carry out...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayeitzei, we learn of Yaakov’s flight from Beer Sheva, en route to Charan, as he flees the wrath of his brother, Eisav. It is there, at the home of Lavan, that he will marry his four wives - Leah, Zilpah,...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Toldos, Yaakov and Eisav are born to Yitzchak and Rivka after twenty years of marriage. The parsha progresses quickly from their births (Bereishis 25), when Yitzchak is sixty years old (25:26), to Yitzchak’s old age, when he is ready to...
In this week’s parsha, Chayei Sarah, the Torah tells us of Sarah Imeinu’s passing at the age of one hundred and twenty seven years old. Following her death, Avraham Avinu negotiates the purchase price of the Me’aras Ha’Machpela, buys the cave and buries his beloved...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayeira, we meet Avraham Avinu three days after his bris milah (Rashi to Bereishis 18:1), when the pain is the most intense. As the parsha opens Avraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent, waiting for passersby so that...
Parshas Lech-Licha: the journey of one man that launched a nation. In the ten generations from Noach to Avraham, mankind forgot about G-d and reverted back to their pagan ways. As the Sages teach (Avos 5:2): עֲשָׂרָה דוֹרוֹת מִנֹּחַ וְעַד אַבְרָהָם, לְהוֹדִיעַ כַּמָּה אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם לְפָנָיו,...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Noach, as a result of the sinful ways of mankind, Hashem destroys the whole world in the Deluge, saving only Noach, his wife Naama (Rashi to Gen.4:22), their three sons Shem, Cham and Yafes, and the wives of their sons. In...
5781. A new year. New beginnings. A new cycle of Torah reading and learning. Bereishis. בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אלקים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ - In the beginning, G-d created the heavens and the earth (Bereishis 1:1). Parshas Bereishis: The creation of the world; the formation of man and...
Dear Friends, I hope you are all enjoying a meaningful yom tov. Please join me this evening, b’ezras Hashem, Thursday, October 8 for a special live-stream shiur, presented as part of YU’s Hoshana Rabba Leil Iyun. I will be speaking at 8:45pm. Register at: https://www.yutorah.org/hoshanarabba/ See the attached...