Timeless Torah

If the command to Abraham, “Go for yourself” is as Rashi elaborates, “For your own good and benefit,” what exactly was the test?  read more »

Why are the many centuries that Jews spent under oppressive Arab rule not included in the list of kingdoms that would dominate Israel? Because Ishmael’s mastery over Israel was incidental….  read more »

Only one thing stood in Abraham’s way, his attitude. If G-d’s blessing was to take hold, Abraham could not give in to despair. This lesson is obviously not only for our ancestor but for all of us.  read more »

Yofi is external beauty, Chayn is internal. The more you appreciate the former, the better the latter looks.  read more »

Did you know that the mitzvah of circumcision consists of three parts? There’s the act; being in a circumcised state; and having no foreskin. What’s the lesson?  read more »

Mazal Tov! You’ve just been blessed with a newborn boy. On the one hand, what a joy; on the other, what a responsibility. Not only are you occupied with providing for the newborn’s physical needs, you are also obligated to concern yourself with his spiritual welfare. After all, this youngster represents the newest link in the golden chain of our People stretching back over three and a half thousand years.  read more »

Abraham's brief but stellar career as G-d's chosen could not be wrong. When his wife, Sarah, fell into the clutches of Pharaoh's harem, it resulted in nothing, except as one of the mysterious avenues whereby G-d made Abraham even wealthier. When his nephew Lot was captured along with the other Sodomites, all it did was allow Abraham to battle and defeat four powerful kings and thus add further luster to his already beloved name.  read more »

One of the most powerful scenes ever painted by the renowned Chassidic artist, Zalman Kleinman, is based upon the Covenant that is graphically described in this week's Torah reading. "I am Hashem Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to inherit it...Take to Me three heifers, three goats, three rams... He (Abraham) took all these, he cut them in the center and placed each piece opposite its counterpart...Birds of prey descended ... A deep sleep fell upon Abraham And behold, a dread, great darkness fell upon him."  read more »

Abraham, in order to realize his destiny as the father of the children of Israel, was faced with the difficult challenge of leaving all that was familiar and beginning a trek to the unknown. Though promised wealth, leadership, and fame for making this sojourn, the verse testifies, “Avrom went because Hashem had spoken to him.” That was his sole motive.  read more »

Abraham begins his career as a wanderer. He will leave his home in Mesopotamia, stop in Canaan, travel to Egypt and soon enough turn around. In the Holy Land itself, the first Patriarch will wander from Chevron on to Beer Sheva, then the Philistine coast and finally to the Mountain of Moriah. Apparently, staying put is not part of the Jewish psyche.  read more »