To Name the Creator
This week’s parashah (Lekh Likha), Bereishis 16:13, describes Hagar’s prayer to Hashem … Before praying one has to think about how one is relating to Hashem in that moment. …
Category: 1- Bereishis
Dispelling the Dark
So, Adam saw the return of darkness, the same darkness the opening medrash identified with the spiritual decimation attempted by the Hellenists in the years before Chanukah. He mourned and fasted for 8 days. We have 8 days, but with an opposite theme — mourning and fasting are prohibited, and praise and gratitude dominate. And in both cases, the message was only seen in retrospect, the next year.
There is one major difference: Adam concluded that the darkness and the return of light was just “the natural cycle”. In Chanukah, we initiated the light manually, and Hashem responded with a miracle. Where Adam saw Hashem’s Light in nature, we see Him bestowing it in a covenantal union with us.
Adam was the start of this world. The Jewish People were given the Torah, handed a burning torch, to bring light to the world that follows.
Why is this, that you ask my name?
In Vayishlakh, this week’s parashah, Yaaqov Avinu battles an angel. At the end he asks the angel what his name was. The angel answers, “לָמָּה זֶּה תִּשְׁאַל לִשְׁמִי — why is this that you...
Which Rainbow?
An interesting tidbit from the Seforno on Ber’ 9:13 “vehaysa le’os beris”: Seforno is saying that the rainbow that the sign of the covenant with Noach, which Chazal talk about being a symbol of...
Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayechi II – My Sword and My Bow
In this second shiur on Vayechi, we look at Meshech Chokhmah on Bereishis 48:22. My sword and my bow – tzelos’hi uva’ushi – tefilah vesachanunim — siddur prayer and personal requests. There are two...
Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayechi I – Yaaqov in Mitzrayim
In this first shiur on parashasVayechi, we look at Meshech Chokhmah on the opening words of the parashah. Similarities between Rav Meir Simcha haKohein miDvinsk’s understanding of (47:28) “ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים” and Rav...
Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayigash – In a dream at night…
There is a recurring them in the Meshekh Chokhmah on parashas VaYigash about when is someone who is in the diaspora capable of nevu’ah or ruach haqodesh. In this shiur, we look at two...
Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayishlach – A Time to Do, A Time to Build
Meshekh Chokhmah on Bereishis 33:18 expands on a medrash that makes much of Yaaqov’s camping “in front of Charan”, that he set up techum Shabbos (measured the limits of how far he may travel...
Meshech Chokhmah – VaYeitzei – “… Hashem is present in this place, and I – I did not know!”
There are two ways to approach G-d through His Action. One can admire the G-d of miracles, or the G-d of nature. The medrash describes Avraham as having discovered G-d through contemplating nature. Science...
Meshech Chokhmah – Toledos – Esav and Humanity’s So-Far-Missed Opportunity
After a long introduction, we looked at Meshekh Chokhmah on the navi’s explanation to Rivqah about why her pregnancy was so odd. She wasn’t merely surprised by having twins — one attracted to idolatry,...