“Big” Feelings in a “Small” Letter Shalom, In the Hebrew alphabet there are no capital or small letters. All the letters are supposed to be equal. However, according to the tradition, there are 17 places in the Bible where Hebrew the letters are extra-large or extra-small. […]
Test or Banner? Shalom, This Shabbat we will be reading Torah portion “Va’Yera” in the book of Genesis – Be’Reshit. In this Torah portion the root ‘love’ appears for the first time in the Bible. וַיֹּאמֶר קַח-נָא אֶת-בִּנְךָ אֶת-יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר-אָהַבְתָּ, אֶת-יִצְחָק, וְלֶךְ-לְךָ, אֶל-אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה; וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם, לְעֹלָה, […]
A Perspective on The History of Nations Shalom, This week’s Torah portion spans the Flood מבול – , its causes and aftermath, leading to the tower of Babel – מְגַדֵּל בְּבַל events and to the consequential dispersion of humanity. Here we find certain key words which are repeated within a […]
Intellectual vs. Material Joy Shalom, Tomorrow night we will be celebrating the holiday of Simchat Torah – שמחת תורה. This is the day on which we end the current annual Torah reading cycle with the last Torah portion: וזאת הברכה and begin the next annual Torah reading cycle with the first Torah portion: בראשית We know that the […]
The Restored Promise Shalom, Tonight we will celebrate the holiday of Sukkot. During the entire 7 days of this holiday, the ritual is to dwell in a temporary “hut” – sukkah – סוכה. One of the rituals for Sukkot is to have four species – ארבעת המינים waving the lulav and etrog. Besides building and dwelling in a […]
The Journey of the Soul Shalom, This Shabbat, Yom Kippur – יום כיפור the Day of Atonement, during the Minha prayer we will read from the book of Jonah – ספר יונה. Here is the story of the prophet Jonah in a nutshell. The prophet Jonah is commissioned by G-d to warn godless people of Nineveh. But […]
Chromosomes of the Creation Shalom, Yesterday we celebrated the opening of our new Jerusalem branch location in the Baq’a neighborhood and had a housewarming ‘Chanukat Bayit’ – חנוכת בית ceremony in our gorgeous offices here, which were designed by Sarit Harel. https://www.facebook.com/sarithareldesign/ Orly and I were so happy to meet and welcome many of our students, friends, new […]
Questioning the Orders Shalom, This Shabbat we will be reading Torah portion “Ki Tavo” in the book of Deuteronomy – Devarim. This Torah portion includes the laws of the tithes given to the Levites and to the poor, and detailed instructions on how to proclaim the blessings and the curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eival. After listing the blessings […]
Concealed Blessing Shalom, This Shabbat we will be reading the portion “R’eh” of the fifth book of Torah – Devarim – דברים (words). Moses tells the people of Israel, “See, I place before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing that will come when they fulfill G‑d’s commandments, and the curse if they abandon them. Let’s look closely at the opening verse. […]
Wording One’s Lifetime Shalom, This Shabbat we will be reading the third portion “Ekev” of the fifth book of Torah – Devarim – דברים (words). Rabbi of Mishkoletz explains a verse in this week’s Torah portion: כִּי לֹא עַל-הַלֶּחֶם לְבַדּוֹ יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם–כִּי עַל-כָּל-מוֹצָא פִי-יְהוָה, יִחְיֶה הָאָדָם “…Not on bread alone does man live but by every word that issues […]