Articles in Concepts
Ki Tisa: Use Your Head
Use your head is an idiom that means think things through carefully. Don’t just jump on the bandwagon. Use your head. Think about it, figure out the ramifications and avoid making a mistake.
The Torah says, “When you list the heads of the children of Israel according to their numbers.”[1] What …
Tetzaveh: The Afterlife
Absent
This week we marked the Yahrtzeit of Moses, who passed away on the 7th of Adar, 3488 or 1273 BCE. This was just 33 days before Joshua led the Jews into Israel. We know this because the Jews crossed into Israel on the 13th of Nissan. We also know that …
Yitro: Time for Torah
We all must make time for Torah, but how much time is a matter of perspective. When G-d gave us the Torah at Sinai, He gave the same Torah to all Jews. We are all bound by the same laws and we all share the same level of access to …
Beshalach: Shabbat
When our ancestors traveled through the desert, they were nourished by Manna that fell miraculously from heaven every morning of the week with the exception of Shabbat. There was no Manna on Shabbat; instead two portions fell on Friday, one for Friday, the other for Shabbat.
Nevertheless, the Zohar, the seminal …
Vaera: The Great Escape
The entire Jewish ordeal in Egypt was an effort to escape. What were they escaping from?
The minutia of mundane pleasures. The Jewish people were singled out to receive the Torah at Sinai. They were poised to climb to the precipice, to scale the greatest spiritual heights, but they were trapped …
Shemot: A Jew In Exile
When Moses stood before the burning bush, G-d said to him, “I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their slave drivers.” Two verses later, G-d said: “And now, the cry of the children of Israel has come …
Vayechi: A Cast of Brothers
Joseph and his brothers had a rocky relationship. Over the years there had been some pretty bad times. They resented him and thought he maligned them to their father. For his part, Joseph didn’t help matters when he shared his grandiose dreams that cast him in the role of king …
Vayigash: Know It All
What do you do when you know it all? Life is only interesting when there is mystery. When we have questions to answer, theses to research, frontiers to explore, peaks to climb, depths to plumb, curiosities to quench, and knowledge to acquire, life has thrill and excitement. But what do …
