Parashat Misphatim: A Beginner’s Guide to Piety
Forgotten Piety Immediately following the revelation on Mount Sinai, the Israelites are handed a long list of laws and regulations, detailed in Parashat Mishpatim. Surprisingly, these laws have very little to do with rituals, sacrifices, or spirituality. Rather, they deal with financial and physical damages, and with the responsibilities of borrowers and renters. To understand […]
Prophets & Profits: Get Anything You Want
Get Anything You Want Yitro and Business Exodus 20:14 Do not covet. What is the seedling of machiavellianism, backstabbing, and theft? Coveting what others have that you do not. Anytime we feel this, it is an opportunity to increase humility and our abundance mentality. Of whom are you jealous? How has that jealousy affected your […]
Parashat Yitro: The Ten Concepts
Concepts, not Commandments The famous term “Ten Commandments” is a misnomer. In the three references in the Torah to what we call the Ten Commandments, one term is used: עשרת הדברים – the Ten Concepts. ויכתוב על הלוחות את דברי הברית, עשרת הדברים He [Moshe] wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the […]
Parashat BeShalah: Miriam’s Holy Song
Women, Men, and Angels When the Israelites left Egypt and God split the sea for them the angels wanted to praise Him. He told them: “let Moshe and Israelites sing first”. And so it was that the Israelite men sang first, the angels sang last, and the women sang in between. This beautiful scene is […]
Parashat Bo: Monotheistic Matzah and Protective Pesah
“They shall eat the meat on that night, roasted, with matzoth and bitter herbs” The first ever lean burger is the central dish, at least verbally, at our Seder table. We all follow the Mishnaic maxim of Rabban Gamliel, which obligates us to pronounce the words פסח מצה ומרור – but there is something much […]
Vaera 5: Twice The Pride Double The Frogs
In the beginning of the 8th chapter in Shemot, God asks Moses to say to Aaron to hold his arm over the rivers, the canals and the ponds, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt. Funnily enough though and as in previous ocasions, the Pharoh’s magicians did the same with their spells […]
Parashat Vayehi: Favorite Son vs. Man of the People
Choosing a college major is a tricky business. You start studying for the profession most in demand at the moment, just to find out four years later that the world has drastically changed. Programming, or coding, has been one exception and a safe bet for the last couple of decades, but this too is about […]
Parashat Miketz: Reading Between the Lines
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia Two years after Yosef correctly interpreted the dreams of the royal cupbearer and baker, Pharaoh had two disturbing dreams. He summoned all his advisors and sages but none of them provided a satisfying interpretation. The cupbearer, seeing an opportunity for reward, broke the silence regarding his criminal past, and told Pharaoh […]
Parasha of the Week: Vayeshev
Are You Really Sorry? By Rabbi Haim Ovadia [Gen. 37:1] Yaakov settled in the land of Canaan, where his father was a sojourner. [2] Despite having many children, Yaakov saw Yosef as his true descendant, because he was the son of his first and true love, Rachel. Though Binyamin was also Rachel’s, he carried the […]
Parasha of the Week: Vayishlach
Are You Really Sorry? By Rabbi Haim Ovadia The dramatic encounter between Yaakov and Esav provides an insight into the concept of indirect apology. Yaakov goes through the process of apology and forgiveness internally, positioning himself as both the offender and the offended. After he emerges from the process innocent or not guilty, he proceeds […]
