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Vayeira: Our Salvation Is Born from the Impossible
Sara, the wife of Avraham, is known to us as ‘Sara Imeinu,’ Sara, our mother. Sara’s primary identity is not only as the mother of Yitzchak, but the mother of the whole Jewish nation. Interestingly, Sara only became a mother at the age of 90 and she passed away at 127. For most of her…
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Lech Lecha: Eretz Yisrael, The Homeland of Our Soul
‘To the land which I will show you.’1 In this week’s parsha, Hashem promises the land of Eretz Yisrael to Avraham and his descendants. Originally, before it was given over as a gift to the Jewish people, the land was called Canaan, because it is a place of complete hachna’a, submission, to the Divine Will.…
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Emor: The Strength in Soft Speech
This week’s parsha is called Emor, from the early words of the portion ‘Emor el hakohanim,’ ‘Say to the priests.’ The parsha begins with an instruction to the priests of the nation. There is something very special about ‘amira,’ about ‘saying,’ that may have skipped our notice. If we think about it, how many times…
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Acharei-Mot: Counting Our Spiritual Growth
We are now in the time of Sefirat HaOmer, the 49-day count which takes us, step-by-step, from the physical liberty of Egypt to the spiritual freedom of Sinai. Rav Kurland brings down from the ‘Neot Hadesheh’ a great question. Ordinarily, we have a concept in Jewish law that we fulfil mitzvot through a condition called…
