torah

This week’s parsha, Toldos, begins with the births of Yaakov and Esav. Right from the start they were two dissimilar individuals with very different agendas:… Read More »Heaven on Earth

This week’s Torah reading begins with the recounting of the generations of Abraham and Isaac. It is titled “Toldot,” which literally means the children, as… Read More »Isaac Gave His Children Something to Remember

Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Yehuda the Prince said, good is Torah study together with a worldly occupation, for the exertion in both makes… Read More »Chapter 2, Mishna 2(b) : Torah Study vs. Earning a Livelihood – Part II

The Mitzvah: The prohibition against murder is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Eisav is the personification of a murderer, wielding the… Read More »Murder: Going for the Kill

How different can two brothers be? As different as black and white. The Torah describes how the twin brothers Jacob and Esau were already veering… Read More »A Question of Honor

This week’s Torah portion begins and ends with discussion of the relationship between the twin brothers Ya’akov (Jacob) and Esav (Esau), from their pre-natal bickering… Read More »Appreciating the Value of Our Blessings

After a debilitating stroke, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem, continued to say a weekly mussar shmues (ethical sermon)… Read More »With Death Do Us Apart!

Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, embarked on his mission to the land of Haran and the house of Besuel to find a wife for his master’s beloved… Read More »For Goodness Sake

When the wise man eats the little which is sufficient (lit., ‘fitting’) for him, he should eat it only in his house at his table.… Read More »Chapter 5, Law 2 – Of Rabbis and Sheep

And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah. And… Read More »Bigger FROM the Akeida