Listen to an audio version This Shabbat marks three weeks into the New Year in accord with the western secular calendar, the one by which a majority of Jewish people worldwide attempt to conduct their normal life’s business. Many have…
Tag: Messianic
Vayechi – Mercy and Justice: The Incredible Two-Headed Servant
Parashat Vayechi brings us to the close of the book of Genesis and places us squarely at a moment of transition. These are end-of-life words—Jacob blessing his sons, Joseph preparing to die in exile, and in the Haftarah, King David…
Vayigash – At the Threshold of Blessing
The Torah portion Vayigash brings us to one of the most emotionally charged threshold moments in Israel’s story. Judah steps forward, Joseph reveals himself, and a family fractured by betrayal stands at the edge of reconciliation (Gen 44–45). Rabbinic tradition…
Light Over Might
Listen to an audio version Hanukah is perhaps the most cherished Jewish holidays, celebrated by both religious and secular Jews. While much of the Western world celebrates Christmas, Hanukah has become the Jewish alternative, replete with gift-giving, “heart-unfriendly” holiday foods,…
Vayeshev – Dream On
Dream On — not the dismissive phrase our culture sometimes uses to mock hope, but the ancient call our tradition gives to test, discern, and live the dreams that come from God. When the world grows cynical, when spiritual longing…
Vayishlach – Wrestling in the Dark
Jacob stands alone in the darkness by the river Jabbok, that narrow tributary of the Jordan where heaven once opened to him in a dream . Now the night feels far heavier. The promises of God seem distant, muffled by…
Vayetze – Finding Our Rosebud
Listen to an audio version The movie Citizen Kane has been voted by many film academies and publications to be the greatest American movie of all time. Though the film’s cinematography was cutting edge in 1941, it is certainly not…
Vayera – A Rock Feels No Joy
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel once sang, I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries. In those few lines, they captured something hauntingly prophetic — the isolation of…
B’reishit: Dominion or Devotion
There’s a strange irony in our time. We live in an age of deep moral concern, we rally to protect the environment, speak for the voiceless, to stand against injustice. And yet, perhaps the most ancient of injustices goes largely…
Fire and Water: Heaven on Earth
Sukkot is a season overflowing with meaning. It’s a time of joy, gratitude, and celebration — a time when we thank HaShem for His abundant provision. The harvest has come in, the storehouses are full, and the people rejoice in…