“The Tortoise and the Hare” is one of the most well-known of Aesop’s fables. It is a timeless tale of arrogance versus endurance: the cocky Hare, all speed and swagger, mocks the plodding Tortoise and bolts ahead, only to nap mid-race in…
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“The Tortoise and the Hare” Toledot 5786
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Parashat Tol’dot: A Hidden Collaboration Part 2
The following essay is a highly revised version of the d’var Torah I posted here in 2023, 2024 and 2025, each time adding more supporting commentary. This year I have re-edited it also into three parts: Rivkah and Isaac both in one way or…
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Adam’s Fear of Lilith: Sheer Terror Before the Unbounded Feminine of Tohu
There is a moment in the very beginning of creation where Adam stands before the first feminine presence that emerges from the left side of the cosmos — and he trembles. This is not a moral failing. It is a metaphysical event. The masculine of…
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From Einstein to Epstein — How Did We Get Here?
There was a time when the word Jewish genius summoned images of chalk-dust, violin cases, telescopes pointed toward the heavens, and a tiny man from Ulm bending reality with a pencil. Einstein was not perfect—far from it—but he symbolized…
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The blockade of Gaza was legal; withholding humanitarian aid, not so much
Last month, the International Court of Justice rebuked Israel in an advisory opinion for blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza during the course of the Israel-Hamas war there and emphasized that starvation of civilian populations as a method of…
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David Ran Toward Goliath with Tehillim on His Lips: A Call to Bnei Torah
The same Torah fire that keeps you in the beit midrash can become the courage that guards it. Every yeshiva bachur knows the story by heart. A shepherd boy, still smelling of sheep, spends his nights composing Tehillim and his days guarding the…
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When Jewish teens commit violence, Israel must enforce the law- even if it hurts
Hilltop Youth attacks aren’t pranks or politics. They are criminal acts that undermine Israel’s morality, legal system, and credibility — and the state’s hesitation to confront them endangers us all. There’s nothing easy about writing…
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Against All Lions
TOLDOS generations. Yitzchak comes across pits in the desert that were filled up since Avraham dug them out. He embarked on an endeavor to dig new pits for water. However upon the first pit, shepherds who let their animals graze in that area…
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The Dangers Of False Peace Deals
For decades, Israel has lived under the illusion-pressure of international promises, diplomatic “breakthroughs,” and grand ceremonies that claim to usher in peace. Again and again, these deals are wrapped in gold-trimmed rhetoric but collapse…
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Say Something
Say Something! In these days of violence unleashed, tenuously subdued, and barely restrained – what is a human being to do? In these days of flagrant public antisemitism intertwined with virulent anti-Zionism – what is a friend of Israel…
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