Why would someone sell his birthright, which was worth an incalculable amount both spiritually and monetarily, for a bowl of stew? Esav gladly did so and then justified it because he was one day going to pass away. Sadly, this is the similar rationale we use ourselves when we want to engage in any unhealthy [...]
The Midrash this week tells of a maaseh where a certain type of bird had been spotted but no one could recognize its species and therefore could not tell if it was kosher or not. The Midrash advises to watch when it is resting, what other species of birds land near it to rest as [...]
There is a famous Midrash in this week’s parsha where the nations mentioned bring claims using the Torah to Alexander the great against the Jews, who select one representative to defend them, Gevia Ben Kosem. The Kenaanim claim that Eretz Kenaan was theirs and taken from them by Bnei Yisroel (to which he answered that [...]
The Midrash in this weeks Parsha says ‘Any love that does not include reproval (Tochacha) is not real love.' The message is obvious. Real love and caring requires “tough love”. When things get tough, when we see someone doing what we feel is wrong or bad for them, if we really love them we get [...]
Some thoughts on Bris Mila regarding chinuch: A Philosopher asked Rav Hoshea “If Bris Mila is so intrinsic and so loved by Hashem, why didn’t he create man already that way? When we look around the world we see many of Hashem’s works, created in perfection, but still leave room for us to enhance them [...]
Chazal tell us in the midrash that the builders of the Tower of Bavel had achieved a high level of Achdus and unity, in speech and in goals. The midrash even describes the connection people had with each other as a sincere love, as opposed to the generation of the Flood which hated one another [...]
The pasuk says: הצור תמים פעלו Whatever Hashem makes is perfect. We know from the Gemara that there are 3 partners in the creation of a human being: Hashem and the person’s two parents. If what Hashem creates is perfect, it stands to reason that the imperfections we find in our children stem from us. [...]
The torah says in this week parsha: יא כ י הַ מצְ וָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔אֹת אֲ שֶׁ֛ר אָֽנֹ כִ֥י מְצַוְךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לָֽאֹ־ נפְ לִ֥את הוא֙ ממְךֹּ֔ וְלָֽאֹ־רְחֹ קָ֖ה הָֽוא יב לִ֥ ֹא בַ שמַָ֖ ים הּ֑וא לאמֹֹ֗ר מָ֣י יַָֽעֲ לה־ לָּ֤נו הַ שמַַ֨יְ מה֙ וְ י ק חָ֣ ה לנו וְיַשְ מ עִ֥נו אֹ תָ֖הּ וְנַָֽעֲ [...]
In this week’s parsha we find the mitzvos of Bikurim and Maaser. Chazal tell us בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָּא אֱלֹהִׁים – אין ראשית אלא חלה, שנאמר "רֵאשִׁית עֲרִׁסֹתֵכֶם". ואין רֵאשִׁית אלא מעשרות, שנאמר "רֵאשִׁית דְּגָנְּךָ". ואין ראשית אלא ביכורים, שנאמר " רֵאשִׁית בִׁכּוּרֵי אַדְּמָתְּךָ". ועוד אמרו )שם(: בזכות משה, שנאמר " וַיַרְּא רֵאשִׁית לוֹ ". וגם דרשוהו [...]
Its hard for parents and mechanchim not to learn the parsha of Ben Sorer U’Moreh and give pause. Even with the Gemara’s statement that this case “never happened and never will”, it is still frightening and difficult to understand completely, though there are many chinuch lessons we can learn from it. Many meforshim have different [...]