Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

"...and Joseph's hand shall close your eyes." (Genesis 46:4) Read more...

Well I was wandering along by the banks of the river  When seven fat cows came up out of the Nile, uh-huh... Can I get a "bop-she-wah-di-wah, bop-bop-she-wah"? Thank you. I'd like to suggest that it's not an accident that Pharaoh gets one of the great solo numbers in the famous play/rock opera, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat." He gets a small, but significant solo speaking part in the biblical account, which opens this week's parashah, too. Read more...

The Chernobler Rebbe, the Me'or Aynayim, R' Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1930-1797), was looked upon as the youngest student of the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement. There are even stories of some Chassidic Masters who chose the Chernobler rebbe to be his successor, and not the Maggid of Metzrich (d. 1772). Reb Pichas of Koretz laments that because of the Maggid's appointment he didn't merit to be the disciple of the Chernobler. Read more...

There is a remarkable scene in this week's Torah portion that calls our attention. Alone in the dark, anticipating a reunion with his brother after a multi-decade rift, Jacob spends the night wrestling with another man, stopping only as dawn was breaking. Who exactly he is wrestling with - a man, an angel, himself - is understood in unique ways by different commentators. Regardless of who it is, however, at the end of this long night of wrestling, Jacob tells him: "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So, what happens next? Read more...

Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn….Said he: "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human and have prevailed." (Genesis 32:25, 29) Read more...