Our Parsha starts out with two mitzvot (commandments) that are unique to living in the land of Israel: offering of the first fruits and the clearing out of tithes. Both of these are mitzvot performed in joy and celebrate the wealth that G-d has blessed...
This week’s Parsha starts out with a list of blessings that will rest upon the nation of Israel when it is settled in the land of Israel and living according to the laws of Israel. It’s not a short list. I started getting scared reading...
Contamination is the topic of the day. Everyone, cities countries and individuals, is trying to figure out how to limit it and what to do when we are contaminated. In our Parsha a small group from the Children of Israel start worshiping idols and other...
We are now in week two of the Torah’s description of the Mishkan - our portable Temple. Our Parsha is unique of all the Parshiot from the later four books of the Torah as it is the only one where Moshe’s name is not written....
This Parsha starts us on a five week journey into the Mishkan. Excluding a brief interlude in Ki Tisa we are not going to stop reading about the material, measurement and construction of the Mishkan until the end of the book of Shemot. It’s remarkable...
I learn Torah with my children at night before they go to sleep. We started at the beginning and are slowly making our way through the whole Torah. We just finished Mishpatim last week. It took us a long time, it has many rules and...
The title of the this week’s Parsha always captures my imagination, Miketz - from the end. The first thing it draws my attention to is the difference between the beginning and the end of our Parsha. At the beginning Yosef is an imprisoned slave and...
At the end of last week’s Parsha the Torah goes on at great length detailing the offspring of Esav. The message is clear, Esav is no longer a part of our story. The focus is now on Yakov and his family. Yakov understands this as...
The climax of our parsha is when, after an absence of at least 20 years, Yakov meets his brother Esav again. Before the meeting, Yakov sends messengers to Esav to let him know he is coming. The messengers inform him that Esav is already on...
This week’s Parsha is the story of Yakov building his family from scratch. He arrives in Babylon with nothing and leaves with four wives, twelve children, sheep, camels, and servants. It’s a long and difficult journey, Yakov works himself to exhaustion everyday.. Yakov breaks his...
