“And now, when I go to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, his soul is bound up in his soul. When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die and your servants will have brought the hoary head of our father to the grave in sorrow.”…
We once had a non-Jewish Dutch girl helping with the young children and it was Chanukah. Of course the lights and the flashy adverts were illuminating the streets of Amsterdam at that same time, as everyone was involved in the “festive season.” We duly prepared our menorah for the first night of Chanukah and eventually…
When Yosef followed Yaakov’s request to check on Yosef’s brothers it was always going to be a risk. The pasuk tells us that the brothers hated Yosef and were jealous of him. Nevertheless, with great loyalty to his father, despite the danger, Yosef went to Shechem in search of his brothers. They weren’t there. But…
“You did not want to marry her to your brother. Instead she will be married to your enemy. You did not want to marry her to someone permitted to her. She will marry someone forbidden to her.” (Medrash Rabboh). Yaakov Ovinu is being criticized for hiding Dina from Eisav to prevent him from marrying her….
In our daily davening we say that Hashem is “habocher beshirei zimra” – He chooses our songs of praise. In what respect does Hashem choose our songs of praise as if He has different options? Rav Chaim Kanievski shlita explains that the non-Jews also sing songs of praise and thanksgiving to Hashem, but they only…
“Eisav is still crying.” Since the time that Yaakov received the brochos from Yitzchak, Chazal say that Eisav has never stopped crying. This is surprising for two reasons. Firstly, if we look at the pesukim, it would appear that Eisav received virtually the same brocho as Yaakov. Secondly, if there was a slight difference, why…
Untitled 1 One hundred years after Lord Balfour began the political process to enable millions of Jews to live in Eretz Yisroel as they do now, let’s look again at the religious reasons we lost the land two and a half thousand years ago. An honest discussion of the relevant pasukim and statements in Chazal…
Every aspect of Avrohom Ovinu’s hospitality was repaid to his children. Avrohom ran to prepare meat for his guests; Hashem later gave us the slav. He gave them butter and milk; we received the mon. He gave them water; we received water from the rock. (Bobo Metziah 86b). He told them to rest under the…
Any rabbi or Jewish speaker who has ever spoken in public on the topic of emuna has probably been challenged with the question, Where was G-d in the Holocaust? Even today seventy years after the end of the Second World War, the issue occupies people’s minds. Some may use it to justify their secular lifestyle….
Avrohom Ovinu’s statement that he is “like dust and ashes” (Bereishis 18:27) is much misunderstood. People often understand that just as dust and ashes are virtually valueless, so Avrohom Ovinu is saying that he regards himself also as having no value. This understanding is not only contradicted by Rashi’s explanation of the posuk but is…