Category Archives: Torah Thoughts

Torah Thoughts: Parashat Vaera 5781
Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

Be Yourself!

It is told about the great rabbi Chaim de Sanz (Sanz, Poland, 1793–1876, a famous Hasidic Rabbi and the founder of the Sanz Hasidic dynasty, and one of the leaders of Eastern European Jewry in his generation) that he once received the visit of a young rabbi. Rabbi Chaim asked the young visitor who he was. The visitor answered, “I am the grandson of the famous Rabbi so and so, who is well known in many countries. Rabbi Chaim replied, “I asked you who you were, and not who your grandfather was.”

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Torah Thoughts: Parashat Sh’mot 5781

Posted on January 6, 2021

Who is a Good Leader?

B”H
Rabbi Daniela Szuster

If you read a book about leadership, what important key points would you find about being a good leader?

You may find that leaders are born into leadership because of their innate gifts. Some theories stress the motivations of leaders to lead. Other theories stress the powers of persuasion and the gift of popularity.

Besides this, you will find that to be an effective leader, you should be confident enough to ensure that others follow your commands. In addition, a good leader should be a good communicator. Words have the power to motivate people and make them do the unthinkable.

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Torah Thoughts: Parashat Vayigash 5781

Serving God Joyfully

Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

Last week’s parasha ended with Joseph demanding his brothers that Benjamin (the youngest among the brothers) remain a slave in Egypt while the other brothers return to their father, Jacob. That was because a silver goblet had been found in Benjamin’s bag. Parashat Vayigash begins with Judah’s plea to Joseph, “if I come home and the youngest lad is not with us, and the soul of the one is bound up with the soul of the other, then it shall come to pass that he (Jacob) shall die in sorrow. Please take me as your slave instead of Benjamin” (from Genesis 44).

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Parashat Miketz 5781
B”H
Rabbi Daniela Szuster

Joseph: A Talented and Humble Person

Last week, in parashat Vayeshev, and this week in parashat Miketz, we see Joseph as a young dreamer and as a person capable of interpreting other people’s dreams. Would he make a great psychoanalyst in our time!

Every time someone would ask him to solve their confusing dreams, Joseph would agree on the condition they understood the interpretation did not come from him but from God. It is interesting to note that he expressed this more than once.

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Torah Thoughts on Hanukkah 5781
Rabbi Rami Pavolotzky

Adding Light This Year

Tonight, we will be lighting the first candle of Hanukkah, so the Torah Thoughts for this week are dedicated to this festival.

I want to start with a question: Why do we light one candle the first night of Hanukkah and one additional candle each night, until we have eight candles the eighth night of Hanukkah?

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Torah Thoughts: Parashat Vayishlach 5781

An Angel is Created out of each Good Deed we Perform

B”H

Rabbi Daniela Szuster

This week’s parashah begins by saying: “Jacob sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom” (Bereshit 32:4). Since Jacob left the house of Laban with all his family, and he returned to the land of Canaan, he sent messengers to his brother Esau.

In the Hebrew text it is written “מלאכים” which usually is translated as “messengers” but also means “angels”. What did Jacob really send to Esau?

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