Category: Parashah

When is it important to call a spade a spade? In Parshat Noach (Bereishit 7:2) the Torah gives us details of the animals brought onto Noah’s Ark: “Min habehema hatehorah,” – Noah brought onto the ark clean animals, “umin habehema asher einena tehorah,” – and also animals which are not …

Shemini: 7 APRIL 2021 If you think that you’re not good enough, perhaps that’s the very reason why you’re the best person for the job. We learn this from Parshat Shemini. Hashem had elected Aharon to become the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest of our nation. All future kohanim, priests, …

“You will see, you will see, how good it will be next year.” Why, at every Seder, do we enthusiastically sing, “leshana haba’ah biyrushalayim” – next year in Jerusalem? Although we have made the same declaration every year, it has never come true – at least not in the messianic …

Thank God for Zoom, but it’s nothing quite like the real thing. The Chief Rabbi’s D’var Torah for Parshat Ki Tisa An appreciation of the power of experiencing the real thing is presented to us in Parshat Ki Tisa. The Torah tells us how Moshe had received the Ten Commandments …

How to celebrate safely this Purim – a special message from the Chief Rabbi Purim and Chanukah are twin festivals on which we celebrate Jewish survival. Both are chagim on which it is permissible to work. On both, we publicize miracles and we recite the Al HaNissim prayer. But there …

If you turn away from the needs of another person, you’re turning away from the will of Hashem If you turn away from the needs of another person, you’re turning away from the will of God. This is an important message emerging from Parshat Terumah. The Torah introduces us to …

Should we come to see or to be seen? In Parshat Mishpatim the Torah presents us with the mitzvah of the three pilgrim festivals, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot – times when the people of Israel would gather in Jerusalem, in the temple before Hashem. The way the Torah puts it …

Don’t just complain about everything that’s wrong. We learn this in Parshat Yitro. Rashi tells us that one of Yitro’s seven names was ‘Yeter’, which means additional. That is because Yitro provided an additional passage in the Torah with key lessons for us. Rashi says that this passage begins with the words ‘V’ata …

Parshat Beshalach   How important is tradition? In Parshat Beshalach, the Torah presents to us details of the miraculous parting of the waters of the Red Sea. Immediately afterwards, each member of the Israelite nation declared, “Zeh keili v’anveihu,” – “This is my God and I will glorify Him,” “Elokei …