A Sword Piercing the Soul Right after Aqedat Itzhak, in Chapter 23 of Genesis, a new Torah Portion begins: “Chayei-Sarah”. Despite the title: “Chayei-Sarah,” which means “Sarah’s life,” Sarah dies in this portion; moreover, she dies right away, in the second verse of Chapter 23. Then in the next chapter, the Torah moves to Isaac—to […]
Today, we are going to talk about one of the richest portions in the entire Torah – VaYera (“And He Appeared”, Gen.18:1-22:24) There are so many things happening in this Portion, that we could discuss them endlessly, so once again, I have to restrain myself. Years ago I wrote a book based on the events […]
Go Towards God I think we would all agree that when we enter Genesis 12, where our next Torah Portion, Lech-Lecha, opens with God’s famous words to Abraham: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” – an entirely new period begins. […]
Reversing the Evil My dear readers, as much as I like series, I haven’t planned to make “The sacred Reversal” a series; I thought it would be a title for one particular article on the first Torah Portion only. However, having entered the second Portion, Noah, I realized that the title is still very relevant […]
When, on Simchat Torah, we complete the Torah Reading cycle, we immediately start a new cycle, reading from the first Torah Portion – Beresheet (In the Beginning). Most of my readers know that I am very passionate about discovering continuity between Tanach (Old Testament) and the New Testament – and that’s why we have already […]
As we remember, Sukkot is “the season of our joy” – and the joy of Sukkot reaches its peak during its final day: Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah (lit. The Joy of Torah) is a holiday that marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah reading. We complete the cycle, and immediately begin the new cycle, […]
Ushpizin and Corona There are only two Biblical Feasts that have some intermediate days between the first and the last day of the holiday. In Leviticus 23, we read that on the first and on the seventh day of the Passover shall be “a holy convocation” and Shabbat-rest with no work, and on the first and […]
Your Joy Will Be Complete Almost immediately after the Days of Awe—the days of trembling and repentance —Sukkot begins. We finish the fast of Yom Kippur, we hear the last cry of shofar, and on the same night, we start building sukkot – tabernacles. Years ago, I lived in a house with a large common […]
The Wordless Cry We just celebrated Rosh HaShanah – and it was indeed the most unusual Rosh Hashanah in Israel. Due to the coronavirus lockdown, we did not celebrate with relatives and friends; we couldn’t worship together; we couldn’t actually leave our homes! Almost everything about this year’s celebration was different – but amid […]
Shalom and Chag Sameach, dear friends! You probably know that here in Israel, we are entering a season called Chagim: Feasts, or Holidays. There are two Hebrew words that one commonly hears a during this season: Acherey Hachagim – “after the Holidays”. Everything is “frozen”, postponed, delayed for this time – but with a firm […]
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