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William Hamilton

Nov 17, 2017, 9:05 PM

Closure and Disclosure

“I write to seek the Rebbe’s help. My life is in disarray. I pray, yet my prayers seem not to help me. I don’t know where else to turn. I eagerly await the Rebbe’s advice.” Many years ago the...

Eliezer Zalmanov

Nov 17, 2017, 6:46 AM

Will your past catch up with you?

It’s been in the news for the last several weeks. Powerful men who believed they were beyond reproach are suddenly being forced to face the music for their inappropriate actions; some many years ago and others more recently. While...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Nov 17, 2017, 12:44 AM

Why Giving Tuesday is more important than Black Friday

In Parshat Toldot, Yitzchak blesses Yaakov with the following words (Breisheet 27:28): And may God give you of the dew (tal) of heaven and of the fatness (riches) of the land, and abundance of grain (dagan) and wine (tirosh). According to...

Nov 16, 2017, 9:01 PM

Parenting Parsha for Toldot: “To Label or Not to Label?”

“And the youths grew up....Esau was a man who understood hunting, a man of the field, whereas Jacob was an innocent man, dwelling in tents.”(Genesis 25:27) Do you label your child(ren)? Is she the goofy, athletic one and he...

Nov 16, 2017, 3:44 PM

Why Isaac? Why Jacob?

Specifically because they were not their brothers, men of strength and skill, but needed God to survive (Toledot)

Nov 16, 2017, 2:52 PM

The need for parental love [Parshat Toldot]

The watershed moment in Jacob’s life -- the repercussions of which surface in every subsequent generation of Jewish history -- is the act deceiving his father, Isaac, in order to wrest the blessings of geopolitical family leadership apparently intended...

Nov 16, 2017, 10:08 AM

“Nature, Nurture, and Redemption” Parashat Toledot 5778

It’s not rocket science. Rivka was pregnant with twins, Rivka was pregnant with twins, Rivka was pregnant with twins. Why must the Torah repeat this fact three times? Rivka and Yitzchak have difficulty conceiving but eventually Hashem hears their prayers...

Nov 15, 2017, 8:17 AM

Toldot — Jacob Have I Loved

The Twins Esau עֵשָׂו has the same root as Asah עָשָׂה, meaning to do, i.e. taking action, which is the function of the body (flesh) as animated by the life force known as Nefesh. The other name of Esau is Edom...

Nov 14, 2017, 1:09 AM

The Cynic No Longer Whispers

Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don't learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Stephen...

Ariel Ben Avraham

Nov 13, 2017, 6:58 AM

Parshat Toldot: The relevance of goodness

“And Esau said, ‘Behold, I am about to die; and what profit shall the birthright do to me?’ And Jacob said, ‘Swear to me first’; and he swore to him, and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.” (Genesis 25:32) Our...

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