How many steps must we take to confront power with truth? In Joseph’s case, after two years in prison, he is suddenly released to come into Pharaoh’s presence to interpret his dreams. There were seventy steps leading up to the throne, each one representing a different culture and language. Since few people knew more than…
One of the striking aspects of all of our Torah ancestors is their acknowledged failures in their characters. This makes them human and allows us to realize that even those we deeply admire have weaknesses, just like we do. So we can strive to improve without reaching for perfection. They certainly weren’t perfect and yet made great contributions. Here…
Who was the being that Jacob wrestled through the night into the dawn? Some sages say it was Jacob’s brother Esau’s angel. Esau had gathered a group to wreak revenge on his brother. Others say it was a messenger (the translation of the Hebrew malak which is the word used in Torah) from Hashem challenging the faith…
One Midrash on this parsha has a surprising twist on the angels that ascended and descended on the ladder during Jacob’s “dream.” As the 12 rocks he placed under his head supposedly stones from the altar on which his father was almost sacrificed, these twelve suggesting his twelve sons and the tribes to then emerge…
This midrash is the well-known telling that when Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, was pregnant with twins, they struggled inside her. One was to be Esau and he was captivated by the gross and idolatry. The other was to be Jacob the fzorbearer of the Israeli peoples. Inside her womb, when they passed various structures, Esau, who…
One of the midrash about this parsha tells of the angel Michael who took Abraham to the spiritual realm where he saw two gates. One much larger than the other. He asked about them, and Michael said the larger one was for souls who had not realized their potentials, and the other for those who had…
One of the most important moments in Torah is the Akedah – the sacrifice of Isaac. Here on the three-day journey to what is Mount Moriah, Abraham sees a cloud and a fire rising from the ground to the sky. Isaac who was in his thirties (not the kid often represented in this story) carried wood for…
This is a well-known midrash about Abraham. His father Terah was a maker of idols. Abraham realized that there is only one Creator. He wanted to convince others of this truth. And convince his father. So, he destroyed all the idols and put an axe in the hands of one remaining. His father accused Abraham of smashing the idols,…
Noah and his wife Na’amah day and night cared for the animals on board the ark. They set an example for us to care for all sentient beings. In the foreground is the phoenix which when Noah approached, sometimes bleeding from his mouth from exhaustion, the bird spoke to Noah saying: “You are so busy, do not…
The beginning is the revelation of duality. Dark and light. The snake in this first parsha has been described as walking on two feet and jealous that Adam had a mate, wanting this being for itself. Note that the Tree of Life behind Adam and Eve has the colors of the sephirot which are the spiritual centers of…