D’var Torah for Parshat Noach No matter what’s happening in our lives, if things are amazing and wonderful, or if life is exceptionally challenging – when people ask “How are you?”, the answer is always, “Baruch Hashem”, because we know that whatever Hashem does, he does for the good. But […]
Parasha
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D’var Torah for Parshat Bereishit When the first person was brought into the world, was he alone? In the parsha of Bereishit, Hashem declared: “לֹא טוֹב הֱיוֹת הָאָדָם לְבַדּוֹ אֶעֱשֶׂה לּוֹ עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ” “It’s not good for Adam to be by himself. I will create a helpmeet for him.” And […]
This coming motzei Shabbat, in Ashkenazi circles, we will be commencing our annual season of Selichot. Of course, Sephardim have already commenced the Selichot from the beginning of Elul, and we will all carry on with our Selichot until Yom HaKippurim. We follow the advice of the Rema and the Shulchan […]
D’var Torah for Parshat Ki Tavo There are numerous references in the Torah from which we can learn that there is ongoing life for the soul in the world to come – though the Torah never actually spells out the details of that life in its finest form – that’s […]
What was wrong with the Moabites and the Ammonites? We’re told that they were not to be brought into the assembly of God: “עַל דְּבַר אֲשֶׁר לֹא קִדְּמוּ אֶתְכֶם בַּלֶּחֶם וּבַמַּיִם” “Because they didn’t offer you bread and water” This is a reference to when the Israelites were travelling through […]
In Parshat Re’eh, the Torah provides us with details of the eating of the sacrifices in Jerusalem: “וַאֲכַלְתֶּם שָׁם לִפְנֵי ה׳ אֱלֹקֵיכֶם” “And you shall eat of the sacrifices there in Jerusalem before the Lord your God.” And then the Torah continues: “וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם בְּכֹל מִשְׁלַח יֶדְכֶם” “And you shall […]
D’var Torah for Parshat Eikev Did you know that there is no mitzvah in the Torah for us to recite a blessing before we eat? In Parshat Eikev, we are given a mitzvah which we’re all familiar with: ְ ”וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ” “And you shall eat, and you shall be […]
In Jewish tradition, there is a halacha determined by the number of words we recite – the Shema, the first paragraph of which we read in Parshat Vaetchanan. If you count the words in all three paragraphs of the Shema, we reach the number 245. If you add three […]
Over the coming week, the whole Jewish world will be asking the same question again and again: “אֵיכָה?” “How?” How could we have reached this awful moment? Moshe asked this question in Parshat Devarim –how is it possible that the people could have rebelled against me in the awful way that […]
Semicha is the term we use for rabbinic ordination, but what does it actually mean? We learn the answer from the portion of Pinchas. Before Moshe died, he was adamant that his successor would be crowned in his lifetime. Therefore, Yehoshua became the leader while Moshe was still alive. And […]