Hanukkah 5782 Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky This week we are celebrating Hanukkah. Therefore, on this occasion, I would like to dedicate the Torah Thoughts to this beloved festival, instead of the regular Torah section. As you know, during Hanukkah we remember the “miracle of the oil.” After retaking Jerusalem from the Seleucids/Greeks more than two thousand
Jacob and the Virtue of Patience (Savlanut) B”H Rabbi Daniela Szuster This week’s parashah tells us that Jacob ran away from his family’s home because he feared that Esau would kill him after Jacob tricked their father into giving him the blessing, the blessing that should have been given to Esau. Jacob, our patriarch, reached
It’s Not the Years of Your Life… Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky This week we read parashat Toldot, which is the only parasha in the Torah that features the patriarch Isaac. While Isaac’s father, Abraham’s, and Isaac’s son, Jacob’s, stories occupy many parashiot, Isaac’s stories are much shorter, or less significant. That seems to be the main
Looking for “M’nuchat Hanefesh,” Calmness of our Souls, among the Storms We Experienced in Our Lives B”H Rabbi Daniela Szuster Tracing Isaac’s life, we can find that he had to face many challenging situations in his life. Starting with the trauma of the Akeidah, the binding of Isaac, when he was about to be sacrificed
Parashat Lech Lecha 5782: Undertaking New Journeys B”H Rabbi Daniela Szuster This week’s parashah begins with a difficult order: “Adonai said to Abraham, “Lech lecha”, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Bereshit 12:1). God commanded Abraham to abandon his land, his place
It is not Good for Humans to be Alone (Bereshit 2:18) B”H Rabbi Daniela Szuster This week we are starting the reading of the Torah again, reading the book of Bereshit. Among other topics, we will read about God’s creation of the world. It is interesting to note that after each creation, God contemplated what