Parshas Tetzaveh
Rabbi Berel Wein One of the main garments that the High Priest of Israel donned was the jewel-bestudded breastplate – choshen – that he wore upon his chest. This breastplate contained twelve precious jewels of different colors and on each of the stones was engraved the name of one of the tribes of Israel. In […]
Parshas Terumah
Rabbi Berel Wein The parsha of Terumah follows those of Mishpatim and Yisro. In Parshat Yisro, we experienced the moment of the revelation at Mount Sinai and the granting of the Torah to the Jewish people. In Parshat Mishpatim, the Torah began to fill in the details of Jewish law and life, especially as they […]
Kidnapped!
Rabbi Zvi Teichman This week we read a long list of laws primarily related to civil life and welfare. In what seems as a potpourri of many diverse topics, the commentators toil to explain the divine logic behind the sequencing of these many statutes. In what seems one of the more glaring contrasts, is the […]
Parshas Mishpatim
Rabbi Berel Wein The Torah prescribes that a Jewish servant who wishes to remain permanently in servitude – he loves his master’s home and his family – is given a permanent mark, a hole in his ear, as an everlasting reminder of his choice. Rashi explains, based on the Talmud, that the ear that heard […]
Parshas Yisro
Rabbi Berel Wein It is well known that there is a difference of opinion as to whether Yisro’s arrival in the camp of Israel in the desert occurred before or after the revelation and granting of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Even if we say that Yisro arrived before the momentous event of Mount Sinai […]
Parshas B’Shalach
Rabbi Berel Wein There is a great difference in the perception of a momentous historic event between the generation that actually experienced it, was witness to, and perhaps even participated in it and later generations who know of the event through tradition and history. The facts regarding events can be transmitted from one generation to […]
Then and Now
Rabbi Zvi Teichman לזכר נשמת טליה זהבה ע”ה בת בנימין זאב ושושנה שיחיו At the splitting of the sea, Moshe is overwhelmed with excitement and boundless joy. Seeking to put his heartfelt emotions to words, he begins a Shirah, a song, with the word אז, then: אז ישיר — Then Moshe and the Children of […]
Parshas Bo
Rabbi Berel Wein As the drama of the Exodus from Egypt draws nearer its climax in this week’s Torah reading, one cannot help but be struck by the stubbornness of Pharaoh in the face of all of the plagues visited upon him and his nation. His advisers had long before told him that all was […]
Parshas Va’eira
Rabbi Berel Wein As the narrative of the redemption of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage unfolds, I am continually struck by the apparently gradual process that is described for us in the Torah. What does all of the detail associated with each of the plagues visited upon Egypt come to teach us? And would […]
Escaping Reality
Rabbi Zvi Teichman At the end of the first assault against Pharaoh and the Egyptian nation, with the plague of Blood, despite the distress, stench and discomfort foisted on his people, Pharaoh can simply shrug it all off. Pharaoh turned away and came to his palace. He did not take this to heart either. (שמות […]