“It’s all up to the Man Upstairs!”  How many times do we hear this from people who are experiencing ill health or some other type of crisis? Usually this is followed by the request, “Please pray for me,” as if the person himself or herself...

 “We must speak and we must act”“I can’t do it!”  “It’s impossible.” “No way!”  How often we hear such a voice of reluctance, in others and in ourselves, when the task before us seems daunting, difficult, or undesirable. In parashat...

Recently, I took my daughter to the ballet. The first thing that she did when she opened the program wasn’t to read the synopsis of the story at the front of the program. She went straight to look at the cast of characters. She wasn’t looking to...

Our Torah reading for this coming Shabbat opens with the word “Vayechi” - literally “and he lived”. Ironically, however, our Parashah describes the final days and demise of our patriarch, Jacob. What might we learn from the apparent contradiction...

Of all of the people found in Tanakh, the one whom I have always wanted to meet is a rather elusive character. We don’t know much about her from the Torah itself, but what we do know is enough to have sparked imaginations for centuries. She has her...

This week, our Torah portion begins with Joseph being called upon to interpret two of Pharaoh’s dreams.  Before interpreting them, Joseph tells Pharaoh that his ability comes from God and that perhaps God is sending a message to Pharaoh through his...

This week we begin the story of Joseph, which will take up most of the remainder of the Book of Genesis. Our Torah Portion is Va’yeshev, Genesis 37:1-40:23. Actually, we first met Joseph two weeks ago, when he was born. Then the Torah told us, “God...

This week, we read Vayeishev, the famous story of Joseph—his dreams, his colorful coat, and his envious brothers. This story, like many others throughout the Torah, was first introduced to me in a fun and lighthearted manner: through the Joseph and...

I love to plan—my day, my week, my class schedule, my friend’s schedule, you name it, I plan it. From the minute I woke up this morning I knew exactly what my day would look like: 8:30 a.m. alarm, 8:40 roll out of bed, spend an hour getting dressed...

Va-Yetse opens with Ya’akov’s flight from Be’er Sheva in southern Israel to Haran in modern-day Syria, where his mother’s family lives.  Ya’akov’s flight from home is a reaction to Esav’s threat to kill him over a berachah / blessing. ...

Our portion begins with eleh toldot, these are the generations of Isaac. The word toldot has a number of meanings. One is generations. Other equally compelling renderings are — these are the consequences or outcomes. The portion is the mid-point of...