Genuineness in our relationships is critical. At the beginning of our parsha (32:5), Yaakov instructs his messengers, “This you shall say to my master to
רַבִּי אוֹמֵר … וֶהֱוֵי זָהִיר בְּמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְּבַחֲמוּרָה, שֶׁאֵין אַתָּה יוֹדֵעַ מַתַּן שְׂכָרָן שֶׁל מִצְוֹת. וֶהֱוֵי מְחַשֵּׁב הֶפְסֵד מִצְוָה כְּנֶגֶד שְׂכָרָהּ, ושְׂכַר עֲבֵרָה כְּנֶגֶד הֶפְסֵדָהּ
Parshat Vayishlach The haftarah that we read this week includes the entire sefer Ovadya — the shortest book in all of Tanach. Its purpose is
This week’s portion, Vayishlach, contains a fascinating detail, hidden in the larger than life story of Ya’akov’s encounter with Eisav. The Torah tells us: “Vayira
וַיִּשְׁלַח יַעֲקֹב מַלְאָכִים לְפָנָיו אֶל־עֵשָׂו אָחִיו אַרְצָה שֵׂעִיר שְׂדֵה אֱדוֹם׃ (בראשית לב:ד) And Yaakov sent messengers before him to Eisav his brother… (Bereishis 32:4) On
In the Autumn of 1971, the ongoing political controversy over “Who Is A Jew?” which was to define Jewish identity in the State of Israel,
In recent Torah parsha readings, we seem to come across many instances where our matriarchs had difficulty conceiving. Sarah only had a baby at the
One of the most prized seforim that I have from my Zayde’s massive collection is a Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur machzor printed in Germany in 1840.
Most Shabbatot after shul, Dad, Dayan Grunfeld, zt”l would take me by the hand and together we would climb the steep stairs to the second
In Nedarim 41a, Rabbi Yosef interprets a verse in Tehillim, “His entire bed, You overturn in his illness,” as referring to one who forgets his
Reb Naftali Weinberg in his sefer, “Rav Chaim Kanievsky on Shidduchim” had posed a question to Maran Sar HaTorah about whether one may ask a
The widespread assumption today is that this poem was authored by Rabbi Elazar Azikri (1533-1600), a kabbalistic rabbi in Safed. He had a lot of
