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 Was Pharaoh in DE-NILE? .: Viewed: 1556 times :.
“And I (G-d) shall harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Shmot 7:3). This verse raises a difficult and basic question. How could Pharaoh be punished for not releasing Israel, when it was G-d Who prevented him from doing so? How do we explain the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart? Did G-d suddenly turn Pharaoh into a puppet? Did He take away Pharaoh’s human free will? Rambam...
Published: March 12, 2018 |
Our Personal “EGYPT†.: Viewed: 1623 times :.
The Hagada says, "In every generation a person is obligated to see himself as if he had personally been liberated from Egypt." How do I personally make the transition from slavery to freedom when I was never a slave? Every person is, in a sense, born a slave – to ignorance, to lust, to passion, and to selfishness. Our task is to free ourselves from our personal “EGYPT”, which...
Published: March 3, 2018 |
Was Haman Good for the Jews .: Viewed: 1616 times :.
During the Festival of Purim we recite the Al Hanissim prayer. This prayer reads, “and for the miracles and for the salvations and for the mighty deeds and for the victories and for the battles which You performed for our ancestors in those days, and also at this time”. In this declaration of thanks to G-d, we use many expressions of gratitude for the miracles and salvations that...
Published: February 20, 2018 |
Megilat Esther - Where Is G-D? .: Viewed: 1676 times :.
The Rambam states in Hilchos Megilah, Chapter 2, Halacha 18, that all books of the Prophets and all of the Holy Writings will be cancelled in the Messianic Era except for Megilat Esther, which will exist forever like the Torah and the Talmud. What’s even stranger is that Esther is the only book in TANACH without G-d’s name in it. Why is the only book in Holy Scripture (Ketuvim) so...
Published: February 10, 2018 |
Shabbat – G-d’s Day to Re-JEWvinate .: Viewed: 1617 times :.
Parshat Mishpatim repeats the Mitzvah of Shabbat which was already stated in the Ten Commandments. “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day, you shall rest…..” (Shmot 23:12).
In the division of the Torah into chapters and verses, the account of Shabbat in the Creation story, in Bereshit, comes at the beginning of Chapter 2. The Abarbanel informs us, that...
Published: February 7, 2018 |
Tu B’Shevat’s Message - Trees R Us .: Viewed: 1615 times :.
Since TT is published on Wednesday, which happens to be Tu B’Shevat, I feel that this article is still timely. In various places in Tanach a person is compared to a tree. "A person is like the tree of a field…"(Devarim 20:19). "For as the days of the tree shall be the days of My people." (Yeshayahu 65:22). "He will be like a tree planted near water…"(Yirmiyahu 17:8) What...
Published: January 30, 2018 |
The Song of the Sea Turns Bitter .: Viewed: 1692 times :.
After the joyous Song of the Sea praising G-D has been sung, the Jewish Nation is in a state of euphoria. Thus, the Jewish People are not prepared for the failures and bitterness that we encounter in the second half of Parashat BeShalach. "Moshe led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and they went 3 days in the desert, and found no water. And they came to Mara...
Published: January 22, 2018 |
The Song of the Sea Turns Bitter .: Viewed: 1606 times :.
After the joyous Song of the Sea praising G-D has been sung, the Jewish Nation is in a state of euphoria. Thus, the Jewish People are not prepared for the failures and bitterness that we encounter in the second half of Parashat BeShalach. "Moshe led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and they went 3 days in the desert, and found no water. And they came to Mara...
Published: January 17, 2018 |
Why Thank the Nile? .: Viewed: 1673 times :.
“and G-d said to Moshe, say to Aaron, take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, and they will become blood….” (Shemot 7:19).
As G-d is about to bring the Ten Plagues on Egypt, the Torah relates that G-d tells Moshe to tell Aaron to stretch out his hand over the Nile River. Why does Moshe not strike the Nile River himself?
Rashi explains that...
Published: January 15, 2018 |
The Exodus and Moshe’s Donkey .: Viewed: 1686 times :.
When G-d sent Moshe to Egypt to free Israel, the Torah states, “And Moshe took his wife and sons and mounted them on the donkey” (Shmot 4:20). Rashi makes a strange comment on this verse, “the Donkey that Moshiach will utilize to usher in the Final Redemption”. How do we understand this odd comment of Rashi’s? Can a donkey live for thousands of years? And why will...
Published: January 15, 2018 |
The Message of Moshe’s Rod .: Viewed: 1669 times :.
G-d commands Moshe, “Take this rod in your hand, that you may perform the miraculous signs against Egypt with it” (Shmot 4:17).
Moshe carried the Rod of G-d in his hand. It was the instrument that initiated the various plagues which afflicted Egypt. One might think that this rod was only able to bring punishment and to exact retribution.
However, we see in the Torah that when...
Published: December 31, 2017 |
Yosef – The Viceroy in Galut .: Viewed: 1814 times :.
"And the name of his second son Yosef called Ephraim, for G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction" (Bereshit 41:52).
When Yosef's two sons were born, he gave them names which reflected particular circumstances in his life. The older son he called Menashe (making to forget), because, he said, "G-d has made me forget all the sorrow of my father's house", meaning the evil that...
Published: December 26, 2017 |
Yaakov’s 12 Sons: Star Power Plus .: Viewed: 1829 times :.
Yosef had a dream about himself and his brothers. “And he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, I have dreamed that the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowed down to me” (Bereshit 37:9). One of the meanings of Yosef’s dream is that the Jewish People are All Stars. Perhaps that is why Jews invented Hollywood. (Pun Intended) In Jewish astrology, G-d...
Published: December 20, 2017 |
Chanuka - Light Up My Life .: Viewed: 1799 times :.
There was a number one hit song in the ‘80s by Debbie Boone called “Light Up My Life”. Was she singing about the Chanuka lights? Chanuka is the symbol of the Divine Light in the human soul, as Shlomo Hamelech says in Mishlei, " the candle of G-D is the soul of the human being”. We are part of G-d’s Endless Light – the EIN SOF. Why does Rambam call Chanuka...
Published: December 2, 2017 |
The Two Faces of Yaacov .: Viewed: 1795 times :.
According to the Midrash Bereshit Raba 66, Yaacov’s image is engraved on G-d’s Heavenly Throne. In Yaacov’s dream, angels ascended the ladder to look on Yaacov’s image on the Heavenly Throne, and then descended the ladder to look on Yaacov on Earth. The angels were amazed at how both images were identical. Rav Soloveitchik explains, that when a person sins, his external...
Published: November 22, 2017 |
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