Consider the Possibility that You Are a ThiefAnd these are the ordinances that you will place before them. (ibid. 21:1)A sizeable quantity of this week’s Torah portion deals with the laws of theft and damage. What significance is there in giving these laws immediately after the Ten Commandments and revelation at Sinai (last week’s Torah portion)? Here’s […]
Messages from 2025
Email and Mt. Sinai An article in the Wall Street Journal mentions a new way for companies to reach their customers: email. Yes, the medium that many deem as archaic and, on its way out, is actually making a comeback for certain purposes. In fact, recent studies have shown that money spent on email marketing is more effective […]
If Only I Saw a Miracle (Then I Would Change) This week’s parsha introduces us to the concept of manna, the heavenly bread that nourished the Israelites in the wilderness. We refer to manna as a concept because it is more than just food—it is an ideology. Many struggle with the idea that millions of people were fed […]
Before inflicting the final plague, death of the firstborn, Moses warned Pharaoh that “your servants, will come down to me and prostrate themselves” and beg the Israelites to leave Egypt. (Exodus 11:8). Why didn’t Moses say that Pharoah would also come and plead for the Jews to leave; why only his servants? (Especially considering that after the plague, Pharaoh himself […]
Starbucks and Pharaoh Imagine if you were miraculously given superhuman power and had the ability to confront an evil monarch, someone who has persecuted, oppressed and murdered tens of thousands of people. How would you approach him? Would you address him in a respectful way or would speak in an insulting and degrading fashion? Whether […]
The Hostage Deal and Moses’ Patience The announcement of the hostage deal brings with it a whole host of emotions. We are, of course, overjoyed that the hostages will be coming home, yet anxious about the prospect that many terrorists are being released and that the situation in Gaza is fluid. Frustrated that Israel […]
Discovering Your Inner Youth It is the end of an era. Jacob has finally been reunited with his beloved Joseph and he lives the final seventeen years of his life in peace, surrounded by children and grandchildren. Joseph had two sons in Egypt and now Jacob, soon to die, talks to Joseph about them. Now, […]
Ad Vingerhoets is a professor of psychology at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. The thing that makes him unique is that he is an expert on crying and has spent over twenty years “studying when and why we cry, and how the study of crying may help us obtain better insight into human nature.” According […]