The Two Sides of Esav
One of the advantages of writing and publishing Divrei Torah online is that it's very easy to go back and look at one's own previous work, whether to get inspiration or even to share again a Dvar Torah that today's audience may not have seen. This week, I found an...
Beyond Scrupulous
In this week’s parsha, Avraham went to Abimelech, King of Gerar, to complain about a well of water that Avraham's servants dug to provide water for his people and flocks, but which Abimelech’s servants had stolen. Instead of simply apologizing and taking...
Torah Contains Everything
Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer, known as the Vilna Gaon (the genius of Vilna), taught that the entire Torah is contained within its first book, Bereishis ("In the Beginning"), that Bereishis is contained in its first parsha (portion), this week’s reading, that the entire...
From Leader to Disciple
In this week's reading, Moshe announces to the people of Israel that he can no longer lead them. “He said to them, ‘I am 120 years old today; I can no longer come and go, and Hashem said to me, “you shall not cross the Jordan River”’” [31:2]. Lest they think they are...
Days of Awe
Several weeks ago, I was honored to be invited to provide a D’var Torah on the High Holy Days, which would be distributed by a rabbinic organization to their membership. I turned it down. Usually, I am not one to turn down such invitations, but to write about the...
The Power of a Bad Habit
In our Torah reading, the Jewish nation is told that they may have a king, but "only that he may not acquire a large number of horses for himself, and not return the nation to Egypt in order to add a horse" [17:16]. This is the first thing that we are told the king...



