I was disturbed by the fantastical words of a guest at a recent business meeting held over a restaurant meal. Our guest began by ordering chicken a′ la king. What had a king to do with that speckled dish upon our table? Did he think...
I am still shaken by the Rebuke in last week’s portion. (Leviticus, Chapter 26) What does it take for us to face our Jewishness? In 1940 Simone Weil wrote to the French Minister of Education about the Vichy government’s legislation prohibiting the employment of Jews in...
[Joseph] said to [Jacob], “I am ready [to go to my brothers]” (Genesis 37:13). Although Joseph knew that his brothers hated him, he did not want to disobey his father [by refusing to go] (Mechilta Beshalach Pesikta).
In Honor of Rabbi Moshe Stepansky and his comment to "The Futurist": The Tanchumah (Bamidbar 2) teaches: This can be compared to a ruler who entered a province, and when its citizens saw him they fled. He entered a second province and the citizens ran...
What a strange place to build a community! The theme of the fourth book of the Torah is found in its name, Bamidbar, “In The Desert.” Why the desert? Why is the desert so fundamental to all the stories and laws that develop through this...
Rabbi Yehoshua used to say: If you give money to a poor man in the morning, and another poor man comes in the evening, give him too: for you do not know which will succeed, the one or the other, or if both are equally
“They would not speak to him (Joseph) peaceably” (Genesis 37:4). Joseph would come and ask about their welfare, and they would not reply to him. Even when he had been given a position of leadership, it was his custom to inquire the well being of
Rabbi Yehoshua used to say: If you give money to a poor man in the morning, and another poor man comes in the evening, give him too: for you do not know which will succeed, the one or the other, or if both are equally
