Posts by Julia Blum

Penuel Today, we are going to discuss the most important encounter of Jacob’s life – the one that defined his name and destiny, and the name and destiny of the whole people: Penuel.  This encounter happened right before his meeting with Esau, and undoubtedly changed this meeting from how it could have been to the […]

Torah portion Vayetze covers twenty years of Jacob’s life – and as you undoubtedly know, so many things happened to him during these years that as always, I have to restrain myself and choose carefully the few topics I am going to comment on today. As always, I will try to focus on the parallels […]

Godly Spouses Last time, we spoke about the story of Genesis 24. First, we saw the faith of different people—Abraham, his servant, Rebecca—but at the end of this long and eventful chapter, we read: Isaac …took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her (יֶּאֱהָבֶ֑הָ). It’s important to note that in a romantic […]

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 […]