Articles tagged with: spirituality
Yitro: The Vanishing Letters
Four Reviews
Our sages taught before appearing at Sinai, G-d reviewed the Ten Commandments four times. (1) What is the significance of these four reviews and what can we learn from this in terms of the vanishing letters??
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Vaeira: When Faith Breeds Confidence
Our Grandparents
I stand in awe of my grandparent’s generation, who fought two world wars and overcame a depression in the span of three short decades. They stood up to the twin evils of Nazism and Communism and created peace, stability and even prosperity. They did not have the luxuries we …
Tezaveh: When Right Meets Left
North and South
What would you rather, wisdom or wealth? Sounds like a solomonic question, but our sages provided a road map. “If you seek wealth turn to the north and if you seek wisdom turn to the south.” But how exactly dos turning north or south provide wisdom or wealth? …
Toldot: Clutching the Heel
The Birth of Twins
They had assembled to help Rebbecca through her difficult labor. This was not an ordinary delivery, there were twins in her womb. Not ordinary twins either, these twins were engaged in a bitter rivalry that began the moment they were conceived. Their continuous bickering had given their …
Sukkot: The Sukkah Paradox
The Sukkah Paradox
For eight days I abandon the comforts of home and move into a backyard hut, a temporary shelter called a Sukah. My Sukkah is buffeted by wind and chilled by the cold, yet as I sit inside, I am happy. I lift my eyes and behold the panorama …
Eikev: Unsatisfied?
Manna
“And he afflicted you, he made you hunger and he fed you the Manna” (Deuteronomy 8:3) To describe the Manna experience as one of hunger and affliction seems a bit curious, what did the Torah have in mind?
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B’chukotai: Material Reward
An Obvious Question
This week’s Parsha begins with an assurance from G-d that if we observe his commandments he will grant us many rewards including prosperity, safety, peace and national sovereignty. Many commentators have wondered why all the enumerated rewards are of a physical nature, are we not destined for spiritual …
Acharei Mot K’doshim: A Lifetime of Forward Steps
Be Holy
Our Parsha exhorts us to be holy and the reason given is “For I (Hashem) am holy”. The Midrash adds that though we are encouraged to reach for Hashem’s holiness, it will always remain beyond us. What did the Midrash seek to accomplish by this statement? Try to reach …
