There is one passage in our Torah portion that has always bothered me. I’d never heard a satisfactory teaching on this passage until I listened to Avivah Zornberg’s teaching, linked here. (Thank you, ...

This week’s parsha is called Vayechi, “And he lived.” Yakov spent the final 17 years of his life in Mitzrayim, Egypt. There, he “lived” quietly, peacefully, with no external threats and no internal ...

This week and in the last few parashiot (weekly Torah portions -ed.), the Torah continues to follow Yosef (Joseph) as the main character of the story. Looking at the psukim (verses), it is very clear ...

Contrary to the common perception that the reconciliation between Yosef (Joseph) and his brothers is fully realized in Parashat Vayigash, a deeper examination in this week's parsha (Torah portion) ...

When writing a Torah column, you naturally wonder how much you are repeating other columns, lectures and interpretations that have gone before. But I suspect that no commentator has started an ...

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Why does Jacob, in his blessings to Simon and Levi, say that they will be achalkem (separated) and afitzem (scattered) among all of Israel? (Genesis 49:7). Rashi notes that as teachers of Torah, the ...

The ancient teaching that our biblical forefathers never truly died finds new meaning in the enduring legacies of Israel's fallen heroes. The haftarah (reading from the Prophets) of this week’s Torah ...

Although this week we read Parsha Vayera, I would like to share a thought connected to Vayechi. Because Vayechi is not a parsha about a week — it is a parsha about the time in which we are living. Now ...