Not On Bread Alone

Bread Of Hate? – Parshat Vayeishev

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

From the outset, there was seething sibling rivalry that eventually erupted explosively. The sons of Leah regarded the sons of the maidservants Zilpah and Bilhah with disdain, and they hated Yosef.

Making Music

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Even the animals have been singing to G-d every day, since Creation. Every time you hear a bird chirping, a rooster crowing, a donkey braying etc., they are singing praise to G-d. If you want to know what they are singing, refer to Sefer Perek Shira.

A Floating Mikdash

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

How could it be that the animals did not attack Noach and his family, or kill each other? They comprised all different rungs in the food chain.

Of Trees And Men – Parshat Shoftim

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Since the Tree of Knowledge had sinned and not obeyed Hashem’s directive, by all rights it should have been uprooted and destroyed, but that is not what happened.

Send In The Clowns

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Who were these clowns of Israel? What was their reason to mock Moshe? What exactly is it about this mocking that makes it unacceptable?

It’s Not About The Sheep

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

So what then is this business about preceding their infants with the sheep? If the sheep were meaningless to them, why did they mention them first?

The Song Of The Land

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

It is clear that Yaakov knew that Yosef was alive and in Egypt. The only question that remains is – did he know that the brothers had sold Yosef into slavery?

Sacrifices and Banquets – Vayikra

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

If the sin originated with food, then its remedy and atonement must involve food. This is why Purim is so food oriented...

All For One And One For All

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

This successful symbiotic cohesion between the “all,” the “one” and the “One” – the collective, the individual and G-d – was the real secret formula of the Ketoret.

A Head In The Lap

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Our Sages tell us that when Hashem creates something or someone, at the same time He creates their opposite.

Royal Bread And Wine – Vayeishev

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Meir Panim notes the principle that the sin of Adam and Chava was comprised of multiple stages, corresponding to the three opinions in the Gemara.

Two By Two – Kedoshim

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

If someone can overcome and surpass their natural inclinations in their interactions with their fellow man, they will have less trouble observing the mitzvot בין אדם למקום.

Gather Round

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

The women had to be there and also the babies, not simply because that was how it was at Matan Torah, but for another reason. Neither the women or the babies were complicit in the sin of the eigel, they didn't have anything to atone for – it was the men.

Jewish Thanksgiving

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Every year, Jews in America join the rest of the nation in celebrating national Thanksgiving, on the last Thursday in November. However, we Jews...

Secret Bread Societies – Parshat Bamidbar

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

The Sages mistakenly interpreted this refusal as an egotistically motivated desire to maintain a monopoly, and they summarily fired the entire Garmu family.

Of Tables, Isaac Newton, And The Holy Temple

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

The Shulchan symbolizes material wealth, and everything connected with it relates to the morality of wealth and livelihood.

When Forgetting Is A Mitzvah – Ki Teitzei

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

When a person leaves pe'ah in the corner of his field, he does so knowingly and even willingly, wanting to give to the poor as Hashem commanded. But it is impossible that this mitzvah can be performed 100 percent altruistically.

Urim Ve’Tumim: The Heavenly Code

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

There are different opinions on how the Kohen Gadol would receive the answer to the question. According to one opinion, the letters on the stones were illuminated forming the words of the answer. According to another, the letters stood out and became extruded.

Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh – Parshat Ki Tisa

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

So, obviously, Hashem does not have a face and all the above descriptions are simply metaphors to simplify concepts to enable our human intellect to understand, even though the true reality is beyond our comprehension.

Fat And Kicking

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Hashem wants us to visit Him every day, to have a loving daily connection with Him and to ask Him for what we need. A relationship that even when we have what we need, we continue to visit the palace.

Fruit And Shopping Lists – Parshat Ki Tavo

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Everyone willingly and eagerly went to the Beit HaMikdash, even for two olives and two figs, because when they brought the bikkurim, they could ask Hashem for whatever they wanted, and it would be granted.

Rejoicing the Rain – Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

Unlike a regular celebration where one hires professional performers, the entertainment in Simchat Beit haShoeva was provided by the Gedolei Hador – the tzaddikim and wise men of the generation.

Blindsided

Not On Bread Alone Eliezer Meir Saidel

If you think Lavan was an arch-villain swindler, he had nothing on the serpent. The serpent was the inventor of swindling, using wiles and deception to trick Chava into eating from the Tree of Knowledge.