Just Passing Through

Just Passing Through

This week’s reading, Pikudei, closes out the second book of the Torah. As Rashi says, it provides an accounting of the donations or the Tabernacle, of silver and gold and copper, and accounts for all of the holy vessels used in the Divine Service. Then the Torah...
Crushed for Brilliance

Crushed for Brilliance

“And you shall command the Children of Israel, and they shall take to you pure olive oil, crushed for lighting, to elevate a light at all times” [Exodus 27:20]. The Torah requires that only the purest form of olive oil be used for lighting the Menorah in...
What Sets Jews Apart

What Sets Jews Apart

This week we read of the Revelation of the Divine Presence on Mt. Sinai, and the Ten Commandments (which actually contain fourteen of the 613 Commandments, and are more precisely translated as “the Ten Statements”). The Medrash says that Sinai is related...
When Free Will is Miraculous

When Free Will is Miraculous

Our reading begins, “And G-d said to Moses, come in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may place these signs among them” [10:1]. This seems to contradict the idea of free will, which is a core concept in...
Carrying True Wealth

Carrying True Wealth

Rav Yaakov Galinsky zt’l tells a story he attributes to Rabbi Yisrael Mayer Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim. There was a gemstone dealer from St. Petersburg who traveled all the way to Danzig (today Gdansk, Poland) to a sale. Even today, this trip takes more than a day...
Seizing the Moment

Seizing the Moment

“And Yosef could no longer hold back, from all those standing around him…” [45:1] For months, Yosef had kept up appearances. He treated his brothers coldly, as if he did not know who they were. Now, however, he “could no longer hold back.” He declared himself to be...