Category: Other

Jews around the world are still shaken by the election results in New York City this week, where an openly-antisemitic candidate was elected mayor. No, he doesn’t hide his hatred for our Jewish state; he doesn’t conceal his disdain for our…

Three times in Parshat Vayera, the Torah pauses to tell us, “Vayashkem Avraham baboker”—“Avraham rose early in the morning.” It seems like a small detail, yet it appears at decisive moments. It appears before he stands at the edge…

Each Friday like clockwork, (pun intended) he opened what he affectionately called his junk drawer and stashed his cell phone inside. “Shabbat Shalom,” were his parting words spoken directly to his devices as he closed the door on the…

Recently, I visited the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre, the place where 378 people were murdered and many more wounded on October 7, 2023. Forty-four people were taken hostage by Hamas. Women were subjected to gender-based and…

RAV KOOK ON PARSHAT VAYERA:

PERFECTING THE WORLD DOING RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE

 וְאַ֨בְרָהָ֔ם הָי֧וֹ יִֽהְיֶ֛ה לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל וְעָצ֑וּם וְנִ֨בְרְכוּ־ב֔וֹ כֹּ֖ל…

A year ago, as stories emerged of a massive “Jew hunt” in Amsterdam, we knew immediately: this time was different.

Fighting antisemitism is our common mission. Yet this marked the first time in our lifetimes we were witnessing an actual…

Grandma squinted to see better. She examined the earrings in the box meticulously, turning each one from side to side to see it from a different angle. Several times she picked up one of them and placed it against the light, and then…

It is a story that we all know and love. Yet, on reflection, it seems a little too familiar.

Avraham is sitting at the entrance of his tent. The sun beats down mercilessly on the plains of Mamre. Three people approach. Avraham, the exemplary…

God is an impossible Being to comprehend.

The first man to discover this is the first Jew—Avraham. Avraham is the prototype of every Jew. And his greatest trial is what is experienced by all Jews: the impossibility of identifying God in…

Parashah Vayerá – Where the tent opens to the Other, there the Eternal appears

“The Eternal appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day” (Genesis 18:1).

Vaierá is not just…