Parshat Vayigash In-Depth “Judah approached him . . . (Genesis 44:18) Said Rabbi Yehudah: The verb “he approached” (vayigash) implies an approach to battle, as in the verse “So Joab and the people that were with him approached unto battle”…
Parshat Mikeitz In-Depth “The three Torah sections (Vayeishev, Mikeitz and Vayigash) that relate the story of Joseph and his brothers . . . are always read before, during or immediately after the festival of Chanukah. Since “to everything there is…
Aliya-by-Aliya Parshat Vayishlach 5762 “Onkeles seems to consider the messengers that Yaakov sent to be human (IZGADIN are runners or messengers); Rashi states that the word MAL’ACHIM is to be taken literally, as heavenly angels. Commentaries point to the end…
Aliya-by-Aliya Parshat To’l’dot 5762 “Rashi quotes the Gemara that tells that when Yitzchak was born, scoffers said that Avraham and Sara, who were childless for so long, had found a baby and claimed it as theirs. Avraham invited the leaders…
Aliya-by-Aliya Parashat Chayei Sara 5760 “The parsha begins by telling us that Sara died in Kiryat Arba, which is Hevron. But first it tells us that she lived a full, long life of 127 years. With the last theme of…
Aliya-by-Aliya Parshat Vayeira 5762 ““It was unnaturally hot; that was G-d’s doing, to spare Avraham the bother of visitors. However, Avraham is distressed by the absence of visitors, so G-d sends three angels to him in the guise of wayfarers.…
Aliya-by-Aliya Parashat Lech Lecha ““Leave your land, birthplace, father’s house.” Ramban explains that each “point of departure” was progressively more difficult for Avraham. Leaving one’s land is difficult, even more so if he was born there. Leaving one’s family is…
Aliya-by-Aliya Parashat B’reishit “One traditional view holds that the first day of Tishrei of year number 1 was Day Six of Creation, the day that mammals, including humans, were created. The day that Adam and Chava were placed in Gan…
Genesis 6:9-10 9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was in his generations a man righteous and wholehearted; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Yaphet. Rashi states that the insertion of Noah’s…
“‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’ (1:1). The first and most important fact established in the Bible’s opening chapter, indeed in its opening sentence, is that God, and God alone, created the world. This assertion represents…
