Over the past week, we have seen anti-Israel college takeovers with protestors openly declaring their desire to kill Jews and to render Israel—from the river to the sea—Juden Rein. The brazen tactics and bullying have left many Jewish students and faculty members afraid to venture onto campus. As we approach …
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The white beard and old age seem to go together. It is not surprising that they share the same cognate in Hebrew; a beard is zakan and old age is zaken. The Torah tells us that Abraham became zaken. Our sages combined the two meanings by saying that until that …
Never Again
“Time is money,” or so goes the common refrain intended to underscore the importance of every moment. You wouldn’t discard a dollar so why waste a moment? The point is well taken, but the comparison is not equitable. Time is not money, it is much more than money. A …
Teaching and Giving
Did you know that Jews knew and studied the Torah well before G-d gave it at Sinai? The Torah was taught to Adam, who taught it to Seth who passed it to his children till it reached Abraham, who taught it to the Jews. (1) This begs the …
After the binding of Isaac, Abraham discovered that his wife Sarah had passed, and he hurried from Jerusalem to Hebron to eulogise, mourn and bury her. This is the first description of a burial in the Torah, which gives us an opportunity to discuss the question of why we bury.
Many …
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
