Vulnerability Is Strength

Rabbi Zvi Teichman In the realm of healthy human interaction one of the most vital traits for survival is compassion. We must be sensitive towards other people’s needs and feelings. Especially when someone else is in pain or facing a challenging ordeal we must sympathize with their plight. But what is even more critical in […]

Beach Bums

Rabbi Zvi Teichman A superficial reading of the events leading up to the splitting of the sea reveal a massive deception taking place. The Jews ostensibly left for only a three-day journey. It was merely a ruse. Pharaoh gets wind of their intention not to return and pursues them with a vengeance.  G-d then instructs […]

Holy Amphibians

Rabbi Zvi Teichman When G-d first instructs Moshe to confront Pharaoh, he is told to tell him that “the G-d of the עברים/Hebrews, happened upon us. And now please let us go…” ( Although Jews are previously identified in the Torah as עברים in the plural, and עברי in the singular, this is the first […]

Cosmic Arm Wrestling

Rabbi Zvi Teichman Yosef eagerly prepares his children Menashe and Efraim to receive a personal blessing from their grandfather Yaakov. As Menashe is his firstborn and thus deserving of an enhanced blessing due to his primary standing vis-a-vis his younger brother Efraim, Yosef positions Menashe to his left so that when facing Yaakov, Menashe will […]

Good Spirits

Rabbi Zvi Teichman One of the earliest discoveries of an allusion in the Torah to the holiday of Chanukah is recorded by the 16th century Italian scholar, Rav Yehoshua Boaz in his work Shiltei HaGiborim. When the brothers return for a second time, this time with Binyamin, Yosef directs the man in charge of his […]