By: Reuven Chaim Klein   In Parashat Vayishlach, Jacob’s family is referred to as a machaneh (Gen. 32:9, 33:8) and bayit (Gen. 35:2), but, of course, the common Hebrew word for...

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis From the subtlety of Jacob`s language, we discover the character traits to which we, as Jews, should aspire–and the converse is...

By: Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky Yaakov’s family faced a tremendous crisis. While passing through the city of Shechem, Dena, their sister was attacked and was violated...

By: Rabbi Benjamin Hecht The story of Rachel’s theft of the terafim, the idols (1)of her father, as reported in Bereishit 31:19,2 is somewhat of...

By: Rabbi Label Lam And he arrived at the place and lodged there because the sun had set, and he took some of the stones of...

By: Rabbi Yosef Kalatsky The Preservation of Free Choice We read at the beginning of the parsha, “And these are the offspring of Yitzchak son of Avraham –...

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis In this week`s parsha, we see the power of faith and prayer. G-d promised our Patriarchs and Matriarchs that their descendants...

By: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Zt’l The sedra of Chayei Sarah focuses on two episodes, both narrated at length and in intricate detail. Abraham buys a...

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis A careful study of the parsha even highlights the specifics of courtship and marriage and offers the guidance that we so sorely need...

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis This week’s parsha imparts to us lessons for life–how we should conduct ourselves in our daily affairs and in our relationships. Interestingly...

By: Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky In what must be one of the greatest transitional scenes in the entire Biblical narrative, this week the Torah transposes us...

By: Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Most people do not give much thought to their ancestral origins. But some do, and I am one of...

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis In this week’s parsha, the history of the Jewish people commences. Until now, in the portions of Genesis and Noah, we...

By: Rabbi Pinchas Winston The Talmud says that Noach was also included in the decree of destruction and would have drowned in the Great Flood...

By: Rabbi Osher Jungreis There is a famous Midrash based on this week’s parsha that asks, “If there are so many ways through which G-d could have saved Noah,...

By: Rabbi Pinchas Winston In the beginning, God made the Heaven and the Earth. (Bereishis 1:1) The words are so incredibly simple, and yet, of course,...