NON-COMMITTAL “It was in those days, Moshe grew and he went out to his brethren. And he saw their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man beating a Hebrew man from his brethren. He tuned this way and that, and he saw that there was no...

FROM DUST TO DUST “The time approached for Israel to die, so he called for his son, for Yosef, and said to him, “Please – If I have found favour in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do kindness and truth with...

TO GOD IS THE VENGEANCE During the week-long vigil that took place at the site of the Bondi Beach Chanukah Massacre, Australian actor and media personality Nathaniel Buzolic (Nate Buzz), shared a message of support with the traumatised Jewish community of Sydney. Buzolic is a religious...

BRINGING LIGHT TO THE DARKNESS “The mitzvah of kindling Chanukah lamps is very dear. A person should be very careful in its observance to publicize the miracle and thus increase our praise of God and our expression of thanks for the miracles which He wrought on...

WHEN BROTHERS FIGHT “Now, Yisrael loved Yosef more than all his other sons, for he was a child of his old age; he made him an ornately coloured robe. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated...

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME…. “He [the angel] said to him: What is your name? He said: Yaakov. He [the angel] said: No more shall Yaakov be said to be your name; rather Yisrael; for you have striven with God and with men, and you...

THE SEVEN BLESSINGS “And it was, in the morning, that behold it was Leah! So he [Yaakov] said to Lavan: “What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I worked for you? Why have you deceived me?” Lavan said, “Such...

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE “Esau was forty years old and he took as a wife Yehudit, daughter of Be’eri the Hittite, and Basmat, daughter of Eilon the Hittite.” (Bereishit 26:34) When Esau reached his fourth decade, he married two women from the Hittite tribe. The Torah discloses...

BUILDING A FAMILY The central theme of parshat Chayei Sarah is the finding of a wife for Yitzchak. Almost the entire portion is dedicated to this, with the exception of a few verses at the end. The Talmud (Shabbat 31a), basing itself on a verse from the...

EAT TOGETHER, STAY TOGETHER The dramatic events described in parshat Vayeira – the visit of the angels to Avraham and Sarah; the destruction of Sodom; the abduction of Sarah by Abimelech; the birth of Yitzchak; the expulsion of Ishmael; the covenant with Abimelech at Beer Sheva...