Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

Barely two double sided pages in the Talmud are the primary rabbinic source to the foundation of Chanuka and the laws pertaining to lighting Chanuka candles. Within the context of questioning what oils are appropriate for kindling the Shabbat lights, the Babylonian Talmud (tractate Shabbat 21b - 23a) questions the source of the holiday, the laws (no eulogies at funerals, the recitation of Hallel) and a long detailed discussion about the timing and location of the lighting of the candles themselves. Read more...

This d'var Torah is dedicated to the memory of our miraculous teacher, rabbi, and visionary leader, Dr. David Lieber z"l. Albert Einstein once famously quipped that, "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." What a powerful message. The choice, ultimately, is ours. Read more...

As this week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, opens, we encounter Jacob, twenty years after splitting with his brother Esau, preparing to meet him again.  Jacob sends his men to try to pave the way; offering gifts – all in an effort to assess Esau’s mood and to ascertain what type of reconciliation he can expect with Esau.  Amidst the preparation for the epic showdown, the Torah records Jacob’s showdown with another: Read more...

This commentary on Va'yetzei is dedicated to the memory of my beloved father, Sol Ervin Dorff, Shelomo ben Hayyim v'Hannah, z"l, whose Bar Mitzvah portion was Va'Yetzei and who was born and, as it happened, died during this week. He died 22 years ago, but it seems as if it was yesterday. I cannot believe that so much time has elapsed since my father passed away, that he did not get to see all that has happened during those years for my wife and me, our children, and now our grandchildren. Read more...

It is a truism of human nature that we often denigrate our own abilities while extolling those of the generations before us. Our grandparents appear to us as giants, perhaps a reflection of our size relative to them when we were infants, but also because we are able to look on the challenges of their age from the perspective of the passage of time. Events in the past look bigger, more romantic, and more heroic than the puny happenings of the present. Read more...