Parasha of the Week RSS

"Everything has its price" Shemot - Exodus 6:2 - 9:35 The Pharaoh only compressed the spring!In the plague of hail, Pharaoh said: “I have sinned in this instance; God is righteous, but I and my people are wicked.” (Shemot 9:27). Then the verse says, “And he sinned again and hardened his heart.”How can this be? Pharaoh had just said that he understood that Hashem is righteous!Rather, Rabbi Eliahu Dessler explains:A person who pushes aside his Evil Inclination but does not nullify it, even though he was able to overcome it just a moment ago, has done nothing more than 'compress the...

(Bereshit - Genesis 37:1 - 40:2 The Parasha begins by mentioning that "Yaakob lived in the Land where his fathers lived, in the Land of Canaan," then it mentions his generations, but above all it mentions Yosef, saying: "These are the generations of Yaakov: Joseph being seventeen years old, was tending cattle with his brothers, and was as a lad, with the sons of Bila, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought tidings of their evil conduct to his father" (Bereshit-Genesis 37,2) Immediately after the Torah tells us that Joseph was the favorite son: "Israel...

Parsha Vaishlach (Bereshit-Genesis 32:4 - 36:43) The little ones are those sparks that keep our people illuminating! “Therefore the Children of Israel must not eat the sinew displaced (sciatic nerve) that is in the socket of the thigh up to today, because (the angel) had struck the lace of the thigh of Jacob in the displaced sinew” (32:33) The messenger (Malach) of Esau had struck Jacob on the thigh. Our sages (the Zohar) explained that the feet of the Tzadik (the great Righteous One) are represented in those who support the Tzadik, that is, his students, who care for and...

Vayetzé (And he left...) Jacob, father of the Twelve Tribes, leaves Israel from the city of Beer Sheva on his way to Aram (Haran) to escape from his brother Esau, following his mother's advice, and to find a wife, following his father Isaac's instructions. The town of Beer Sheva represented peace and security, prayer and Torah study, but Jacob had to leave it to face the world of temptations (Olam, whose root is helem, concealment - where God is hidden). He overcame them and then became the father of the House of Israel. This teaches us that God wants Jews...

"And the Creator said to Abraham: Go from your country and from the place of your birth and from your father's house, to the Land that I will show you."(Bereshit- Genesis 12,1)One of the messages of this important Parasha "Lech Lecha" (Bereshit-Genesis 1:1-6:8) tells us that Abraham represents the soul of the person who wishes to serve the Creator. Such a person must leave behind "her land" (her materialism), her "birthplace" (her sensual pleasures and depression), and even "her father's" house (the family that tries to keep her in her service to the Creator). Freed from these burdens, you can travel...