By Ian Schwartz This week’s parsha features the rare musical note shalshalet . As we know, the shalshalet appears only three times in the entire Torah, and in our parsha it appears on the word “Vayima’ein”—“and he refused,” describing Yosef’s refusal of Eshet Potiphar. I once heard a beautiful explanation of this shalshalet from Rav YY Jacobson. Chazal tell us: “Eileh toldos Yaakov, Yosef.” Everything that happened to Yaakov happened to Yosef. Yosef experienced the same t

I wanted to look at the name יוסף itself and see what the essence of this name is. If you look at the pesukim where Rachel Names Yosef, it says. ותהר ותלד בן ותאמר אסף אלקים את־חרפתי She conceived and bore a son, and said, “God has taken away my disgrace.” ותקרא את־שמו יוסף לאמר יסף ה׳ לי בן אחר So she named him Joseph, saying, “May Hashem add another son for me.” ויהי כאשר ילדה רחל את־יוסף ויאמר יעקב אל־לבן שלחני ואלכה אל־מקומי ולארצי After Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob sai

By Seth Jacobs Avraham and Yitzchak were walking together towards הר המוריה. The wheels in יצחק’s head were turning, and he was beginning to realize what was happening. He turned to אברהם and said "אבי"  my father and then remained quiet, waiting for a response. The כלי יקר explains that this was actually a question. יצחק wanted to see whether אברהם still saw him as a son, or whether he no longer cared and was acting out of his own volition. When אברהם responded "הנני בני",

By Mordy Blau When was the last time you took a moment to reflect on your avodat Hashem? How strong is your connection to Hashem, and how is it reflected in your life? By learning a powerful message from Parshat Noach, I believe we can begin to answer these questions. The Torah writes: "וַיָּבֹא נֹחַ וּבָנָיו וְאִשְׁתּוֹ וּנְשֵׁי־בָנָיו אִתּוֹ אֶל־הַתֵּבָה מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל” (בראשית ז':ז'). At first glance, the words “מִפְּנֵי מֵי הַמַּבּוּל” seem unnecessary. Hashem ha

By Aryeh Bienstock At the end of the 6 th day of creation, the Torah says that Hashem saw that all that he made was very good. וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹקִים֙ אֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם הַשִּׁשִּֽׁי׃ However, throughout the opening perakim of Bereshit, we see that things didn’t go so well or seemingly as planned. We have the sin of Adam and Chava with the Etz HaDaat , Kayin killing Hevel, the destruction of the world in the floo

By Ian Schwartz In this weeks parsha Nitzavim we have an extremely unique description of the jewish people אַתֶּ֨ם נִצָּבִ֤ים הַיּוֹם֙ כֻּלְּכֶ֔ם לִפְנֵ֖י יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם רָאשֵׁיכֶ֣ם שִׁבְטֵיכֶ֗ם זִקְנֵיכֶם֙ וְשֹׁ֣טְרֵיכֶ֔ם כֹּ֖ל אִ֥ישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ טַפְּכֶ֣ם נְשֵׁיכֶ֔ם וְגֵ֣רְךָ֔ אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַחֲנֶ֑יךָ מֵחֹטֵ֣ב עֵצֶ֔יךָ עַ֖ד שֹׁאֵ֥ב מֵימֶֽיךָ׃ This is an extremely novel way of describing the jewish people, firstly it mentions all members of society from the highes

By Eric Lenefsky Perhaps the most famous line in all of פרשת עקב is משה רבינו's question to בני ישראל, ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלקיך שואל מעמך?...

By Yoni Laub A few months ago, my sister sent me a meme that said something along the lines of: “Born too late to buy a house for 50k,...

By Judah Graber Years ago, I heard a shiur from Rav Yehuda Turetsky discussing what is so harmful about machlokes. After the entire...

By Eric Lenefsky ויהי העם כמתאוננים רע באזני השם The nation was like complainers, wicked in the ears of God. In our parsha, Parshas...

By Tuvia Goldstein The גמרא in מגילה teaches the תקנה of עזרא that the תוכחה of ויקרא must be read before שבועות and the תוכחה of דברים...

By Seth Jacobs This Week's Parsha has probably the most famous Rashi in all of chumash. The Parsha starts off“וַיְדַבֵּר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁה...

By Ben Rothstein There seem to be several disparate sections of this parasha : ‎21:1-15 ‎​​ Restrictions on kohanim ’s mourning practices...

By Zachary Fish In the heart of the עבודה of יום הכיפורים, at the height of the holiest day of the year, we come across one of the most...

By Aryeh Bienstock The Shulchan Aruch (OC 428:4) describes four rules that serve as the basis for deciding whether to read a double...

By Eric Lenefsky The first halacha born out of our parsha is that korbanot cannot come from stolen property. דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי...

By Ben Rothstein Many people may not realise it, but this week’s parasha ends on a cliffhanger. After Moshe puts the finishing touches...

By Josh Appel In 1928, G.K. Chesterton, the renowned author and philosopher, made a profound statement in an article for The London...

By Tuvia Goldstein In contrast to last week’s opening line of ויקחו לי תרומה, our פרשה begins with ויקחו אליך שמן זית זך. Instead of...

By Yoni Laub In The Office , there’s an episode where the employees of Dunder Mifflin find out that their new coworker, Martin, had...