How Do You Wrap Your Chanukah Gifts?Here’s a rarely discussed Chanukah topic: How should one give a Chanukah present? Sometimes it’s sufficient to simply ship it with an attached note but usually we have to wrap it and hand deliver it. A group of researchers (https://theconversation.com/the-science-of-gift-wrapping-explains-why-sloppy-is-better-128506) set out to find out what impact wrapping has on a recipient’s appreciation […]

…Joseph at the age of seventeen years was a shepherd with his brothers…and Joseph brought back evil reports about them to their father (Jacob). (37:2)This week’s Parsha tells the story of one of the early events that led to the Jewish people’s bondage in Egypt. Joseph spoke lashon hara (slander; evil reports) to his father about his brothers. This led to a […]

 Do you know anyone with these challenges? Should I take home some office supplies from the school I work at; no one will miss them? Should I be faithful in my marriage even though my spouse really irritates me or should have an affair with someone at work who understands me? Should I take that piece of cake […]

The Talmud tells the story of Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa’s daughter being sad one Friday after she had mistakenly put vinegar rather than oil into the Sabbath lamp. Rabbi Chanina responded, “Don’t worry, the One who told the oil to light, will tell the vinegar to light as well.” The lights remained burning the entire […]

Then there was an opportune day when he entered the house to do his work-none of the household staff were in the house-that she caught hold of him by his garment and said, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and fled. (Genesis 39:11-12) This week’s Parsha contains one of the most […]

This week’s Parsha begins with the story of Joseph and his brothers. When we look at the first part of Joseph’s life, he appears to be someone who keeps failing. However, when we look more deeply into it, we will see a new perspective on how to define failure and success. If an entrepreneur starts […]

In this week’s Torah portion, we read the story of Joseph, who was suffered the trauma of being abducted by his own brothers and sold into slavery. He was taken to a foreign environment (Egypt) and imprisoned there. How did he retain his sanity and not lose hope? What was the secret of his resilience? […]