In the first two verses of this week’s parsha, Parshas Tetzaveh, the Torah commands us regarding the lighting of the Menorah in the Mishkan. The opening pasuk instructs Moshe as follows: וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר: לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר, תָּמִיד -...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Terumah, we enter the world of the Mishkan: וְעָשׂוּ לִי, מִקְדָּשׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּי, בְּתוֹכָם - Make for Me a Sanctuary of holiness, that I may dwell amongst them (Ex.25:8). Our journey to freedom, which began with the physical redemption from Egyptian...
At the end of this week’s parsha, Parshas Mishpatim, the Torah tells us of the final stages of the giving of the Torah, which began in Parshas Yisro and culminated with the famous declaration of “we will do and we will listen,” (Ex.24:7) along with...
It is Wednesday evening, January 27, 11:30pm in Jerusalem. This week’s post is not a dvar Torah that is based on the parsha and it is not a recipe of foods that I like to eat. This week’s post is simply Reflections… What words shall I pen...
In the beginning of this week’s parsha, Parshas Beshalach, we find a newly freed Israelite nation at the beginning of what would soon become a forty year journey through the wilderness. The people had left Egypt and were about to come face to face with...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Bo el Pharaoh, Pharaoh the king of Egypt, his servants, the citizens of the land and the country of Mitzrayim itself all meet their end with the final three plagues: locusts, darkness and death-of-the-firstborn. Finally, after hundreds of years in...
As we begin the book of Shemos, Sefer Ha’Geula, we find the Israelite nation deep in the Egyptian exile and enslavement. It was a time of back-breaking labor, a time of persecution and pain, it was a dark time when all hope seemed lost. And...
The Book of Bereishis closes with this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayechi Yaakov, And Yaakov Lived - a parsha in which both Yaakov Avinu and Yosef Ha’Tzadik die. In a book full of drama, personal and inter-personal struggles, and much emotion, the stories and lives of...
In a sefer full of drama, Parshas Vayigash is perhaps one of the most dramatic parshios in the book of Bereishis. We are told of the famous and fateful encounter between Yosef and Yehudah over the fate of Binyamin. We read of the dramatic revelation...
In this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayeishev, Yaakov Avinu’s family is thrust into turmoil, upheaval and mourning, with the abduction, sale and sudden absence of Yosef, the beloved son. As the parsha opens, the verses describe the disunity between the brothers and Yosef, as their hatred and...