Thoughts on Parashat Shemot 5785

Why did we (i.e. our ancestors) settle in Egypt?
Because of the natural disaster – there was a drought and famine in the land of Canaan and that forced Jacob and his family to go to Egypt. Thank God, one of our brothers – Joseph – was already there. We know that he ended up there out of nefarious actions, yet God used these actions and turned them into our blessing. That’s one of His powers – to turn a wicked act into something good. But we should never provoke God to use this power.

Thoughts on Parashat Vayigash 5785

A man, very advanced in his age, calls an insurance company and says that he wants to buy insurance. The agent says: “Good, very good, how old are you?” The man says: “I’m a hundred years old.” “Hundred??” – replies the agent – “Oy, I’m afraid we cannot help you” – The man replies: “No, no, you have to sell me this insurance because your company already sold insurance to my father”. “How old is your father?” – the agent says – “He is 120 years old”. “120?? Well, ok, come by Tuesday evening, we’ll see what we can do.” The man says: “I can’t come on Tuesday, my grandfather is getting married”. “Your grandfather is getting married?? How old is he??” “He is 148”. “148 and he wants to get married??” Phs, like it is his choice…” – replies the man – “His parents are marrying him off!”.

Thoughts on Parashat Miketz 5785

Let me start my reflection today with the quotation from the Talmud:

There are three partners in the forming of a person: The Holy One, Blessed be He, father and mother. When a person honors his father and mother, the Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I ascribe credit to them as if I dwelt between them and they honor Me as well. (Kiddushin 30b)

Thoughts on parashat Vayeshev 5785

Our religious tradition emphasizes the importance of not only performing good deeds, but also having a positive inner motivation and mindset behind those actions. One’s thoughts, desires, and attitudes towards others are just as crucial as the outward behavior itself when considering morality, with the Torah and rabbinical teachings emphasizing the need to avoid negative feelings like hatred, covetousness, and envy alongside actively cultivating positive ones like love and compassion.

Thoughts on Parashat Vayetze

The Torah is the cornerstone of Judaism. It was given to us to be an instruction manual on how to live well, justly, with empathy and compassion. It was not given to us because we were “better” than other people, but precisely because we were imperfect, and sometimes even defective, to make ourselves and our lives better.

Thoughts on parashat Toldot 5785

Human history is, to say the least, complicated. While our tradition explicitly teaches us how to distinguish between (objective) right and wrong and (objective) good and evil, the historical fate of human communities and historical processes are rarely black and white. They are sometimes – we have no doubts that Nazi Germany had to be defeated in order bring peace, stability and growth to the world, but most of the time historical realities are more complex and nuanced. For this exact reason our tradition focuses on ethics and notions of right and wrong, good and evil – it is to give us tools to judge an infinite number of social and historical realities and to navigate within them…