When we read the end of Bereshit followed by the beginning of Noach, we notice that God gets upset twice, and twice makes a decree to destroy humanity, with the exception of Noach and his family. The ...

In the last post, Tishrei—Past, Present, and Future, we discussed how all Tishrei holidays – Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah – are connected by the same thread of time and, more ...

The images of young men starved and tortured in propaganda videos released by their evil Hamas captors seared the conscience of our people. As the cycle of Torah readings begins anew with Parshat ...

Rashi famously begins his commentary to Sefer Bereshit with the words of a midrash: Rabbi Yitzchak said, “The Torah should have begun with Kiddush Ha-Chodesh (Sanctification of the New Month), which ...

Hashem begins by asking Cain why he is angry and sad and continues with the following verse: (Genesis 4:7) הֲל֤וֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב֙ שְׂאֵ֔ת וְאִם֙ לֹ֣א תֵיטִ֔יב לַפֶּ֖תַח חַטָּ֣את רֹבֵ֑ץ ...

Parashat Bereshit tells the well-known episode of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This event is particularly striking, given that Adam had received a direct command from ...

Man’s knowledge is vast, but God’s knowledge is infinite, making Torah infinitely deep. The first word of the Torah makes this point when understood through the prism of PARDES, a Hebrew word that ...

And so we take in again from the top: “In the beginning….” Bear this in mind: Jewish time is not linear – not in the sad, fatalistic sense of the word. Nor is it circular, coming back around upon ...

“Shalom, My name is Shiri Vidan and I’m a tour guide from Kibbutz Na’an. Last year I heard you explain how we complete the reading of the entire Torah on Simchat Torah and then immediately begin to ...

As the cycle of Torah readings begins anew with Parshat Bereshit, we encounter once more the drama of Creation: light breaking forth from darkness, order emerging from chaos and the Divine word giving ...