Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

"Jacob kept Laban the Aramean in the dark, not telling him that he was fleeing, and fled with all that he had." (Genesis 31:20) Read more...

"And Isaac loved Esau... and Rebekah loved Jacob" (Gen 25:28) Read more...

As the admissions point person for the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, I am often asked by our perspective students, "What makes the Ziegler School special? How is it different from the other fine North American rabbinical schools?" After assuring these anxious rabbis-to-be that they can become scholars of Talmud and Torah wherever they choose to pursue their Rabbinic degree, and acknowledging that they will be able to acquire the practical skills of preachers and teachers elsewhere as well, I eventually share with these curious students what I think makes this institution unique. Read more...

Here, they are one people with one language for them all, and this is merely the first of their doings-- now there will be no barrier for them in all that they scheme to do!" (Genesis 10:6) This week’s parasha contains two disaster stories. The first and more famous of the two is the story of the Flood, when humanity’s thirst for violence brings about the destruction of the world. The second is the story of the Tower of Babel, when instead it is the drive to power that leads to the disintegration of the human community. Read more...

"And there was evening, and there was morning, day one", day two, day three, day four, day five. Each day of creation, the Torah declares the ending of that day of creation, telling us first that God sees God’s acts of creation and declares them good, making way for the next day’s creative acts. Only on the sixth day, after creating human beings, is the wording different. Read more...