Eliezer, Abraham's servant, embarked on his mission to the land of Haran and the house of Besuel to find a wife for his master's beloved son, Isaac. As kindness to others was the hallmark of Abraham's life, Eliezer hoped to find a young woman who excelled in this same...

Abraham's two children, Yitzchak (Isaac) and Yishmael (Ishmael), were at first raised in the same household. Abraham and Sarah had been miraculously blessed with Yitzchok, their first and only child, while Yishmael was born to Abraham and Hagar, Sarah's maidservant,...

Our reading this week begins, “And G-d said to Avram, go for yourself, from your land, and from your birthplace, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you” [Gen. 12:1] Rav Shamson Raphael Hirsch explains that this is in no way repetitive....

Last week's Torah portion described the degradation of mankind leading up to the flood (the Mabul) — "G-d saw that the evil of man was great in the land, and all thoughts of his heart were only evil, all the time (Genesis 6:5)." G-d decided to erase his original...

We are now in the "Ten Days of Teshuva (commonly translated as repentance)." The elements of Teshuva are verbal confession, regret, refraining from the negative behavior and pledging to do better.Verbal confession, Viduy, can be found explicitly in the Yom Kippur...

A righteous and well respected Rabbi was mourning the loss of his father. Because of his great sensitivity towards his father and the Mitzvah of respecting his parents, he was deeply concerned that he had not shown proper respect to his father during his lifetime. He...