Parsha

If there is a great Creator performing these awesome miracles then I, Yitro, must serve Him and devote my life to that service.

Tu B'Shevat is a reminder once a year of the most important commodities: patience, continued labor, investment, devotion.

I finished reading that the Israeli chief rabbinate invalidating numerous conversions, opened the weekly portion, and enjoyed a hearty chuckle when I remembered that the portion of Revelation and the Ten Statements is named for a convert, a failed one, Yitro. Things sure have changed.

Without the excuse of not being completely sure about the truth of God and His commandments, there is still a doubt whether people will do what they know to be right and to their advantage.

Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us to be passionate about our Yiddishkeit.

I am desperately searching for a filter that purifies the twisted Lishon haRah we use to speak of God: the positive attributes in which we unhesitatingly express our belief.

Miriam and the women who followed her recognized that Israel would be unable to move forward until they forgave God for their suffering and their fear. So they sang of God desiring to share His power with them so that they too would be able to "hurl horse with rider into the sea," as Israel does to Amalek in the closing scene of the portion.

When 80% is a failing grade.

Rashi might be reminding us Jews in almost every generation had to deal with non-Jews who challenged their faith, making it our job to hold fast to Torah, the Torah we already understand and the Torah we continue to work to understand.

It is in moments of illness that we are compelled to recognize that we live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom, whole worlds apart, who has no knowledge of us and by whom it is impossible to make ourselves understood: our body. -Marcel Proust

It seems very likely that when the Jews put the blood on the doorposts, it was meant as a strong statement of protest against Egypt and about the holiness of life. In other words, whereas the Egyptians made even human life a commodity, the Jews were bidden to sanctify the essence of life even in animals.

Where is our Exodus? If the question is about miraculous salvation and the punishment of our enemies, I have no answer. If the question is a quest for experiencing greatness, the answer is the Mitzvot

Of course, we do not expect our elected leaders to be Moshe Rabbeinu---but wouldn't it be great if just one were great.

The Torah is teaching us a very important lesson regarding how to criticize and rebuke people.

Great loss to Israel and the Yemenite community.

God hears, and responds. God hears our prayers, and in so doing, gives voice to a powerful message of love. Can you hear it?

How would Jewish history have looked if the Jews had been able to hear Moshe, had fought through their shortness of spirit and harshness of work to be enthusiastic about the news?

The women believed that Hashem would free the Jewish people and they showed their belief by having children.

BH Baruch HaShem: B&H is a real Kiddush Hashem

We are sorely lacking signs from God today. They are lacking, since our courage and resourcefulness often end when we have no indication of what God wants from us. This is the tragic situation of God’s hiding Himself

The Tzadik, whenever he reaches some higher level, some spiritual accomplishment, doesn't want to forget for a moment that there's more, that he's incomplete, that there are infinite levels of progress that remain to a human being.

Yaakov's blessings conveyed to his children the characteristic at the epicenter of their being.

Each prayer, Shabbat, Torah study and Mitzvah offer us, in our imperfections, to connect with the Eternal. Jacob insists that we first reject the shame we've carried since Adam and Eve, and understand that there is a place in Paradise even for the imperfect.

This year, on the 10th of Tevet, on this sad day, we received news of the passing of Rona Ramon z"l, wife of Ilan Ramon, z"l, and mother of Asaf Ramon, z"l.

Much ink has been spilled on what Rambam meant and how he interpreted aggadic stories, and I have nothing of substance to add here. I instead want to point out he also sometimes takes as historical fact stories we might dismiss as homiletical.

Besides for heat and light there is a deeper understanding of fire we need to discover.

In Vayigash, Yehudah teaches us what attitude we should have in life: Sincerity

The quarks, atoms and molecules that make up our reality are constantly given life and existence by God. It is that divine aspect that also allows us to absorb these elements into our being and in some fashion that we have trouble comprehending, elevate the spiritual sparks of these items by consuming them.

Earlier commentators may well have still shuddered in awe when they thought of Ya’akov’s daughters – how could it be that they would exist and that we would not know about them?

Could Judah REALLY expect the Viceroy to grasp his subtle threats and insults when translated? He didn't.