Our Natural Connection to Jerusalem
Our parsha seems repetitive. Torah describes the events of Eliezer’s trip to Aram Naharaim in great detail. Then, when Eliezer meets Lavan and tells him about his mission and miraculous story, the Torah does not suffice to simply say that Eliezer recounted the story to Lavan. Rather, it records for us the entirety of Eliezer’s […]
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Jerusalem, The Grounded City
In the middle of our parsha, Avraham and Sarah are blessed with their long-awaited son, Yitzhak. The Midrash teaches us that Sarah was biologically barren and it was a divine miracle that enabled her to conceive and give birth. The Maggid of Mezeritch, though, offers a fascinating spiritual take on the journey of Avraham and […]
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The Inner Drive Towards Jerusalem
Our parsha opens rather abruptly with God’s command to Avraham to travel to the promised land. We are not told the rationale behind God’s choice. Why did God choose Avraham? What did he do to deserve to be the founder of the chosen nation? The Midrash, though, explains Avraham’s prior convictions by means of a […]
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Zion: The Nation of God
The Torah describes the sins and punishment of the generation of Noach. They committed theft and other immoral acts and were punished with a civilizational ending flood. Interestingly, though, when describing both the sin and punishment, the Torah does not merely focus on the people’s sins, but highlights the role of the ground itself. For […]
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The Divine Weddings of Jerusalem
In addition to being the primordial home of human beings, Gan Eden was the site of the first wedding. The beauty and serenity of this wedding is succinctly described in the sixth blessing of the set of seven that are recited at a wedding: Grant abundant joy to these loving friends, as You bestowed gladness […]
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Personality, Passions and Jerusalem
We are now situated at the cusp of Sukkot, a transition period in our busy and emotionally volatile month of Tishrei. The mood seems to shift entirely. Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur are generally characterized with a solemn and serious environment, conducive for the introspection that these days demand and the fact that they are […]
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The Communal Judgement of Jerusalem
Yerushalayim has a special status during the Days of Awe. Regarding Rosh HaShanah, the Mishna teaches us that when Rosh HaShanah fell out on Shabbat it was forbidden to blow the shofar anywhere in the world other than in the Beit HaMikdash and Yeurshalayim. Even after the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed and the ability to […]
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A Growth-Oriented City
We generally think of teshuva as the reaction to and rectification of a sin. A person makes a mistake, rebels against the will of his creator and needs to engage in teshuva to rebuild a hurting relationship. Chasidic master, though, teach that teshuva goes well beyond fixing a sin. Rather, a person’s soul stems from […]
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The City and the Field
This week’s parsha delineates the blessings and curses that the Jewish people will receive based on their loyalty to God. One of the blessings is: “Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field.” The simple understanding of this verse is that wherever a Jew might be – whether […]
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Jerusalem, the Jewish People and God’s “Marriage”
This week’s parsha juxtaposes the laws of marriage with the laws of divorce. The Talmud teaches us that these two states are to remain independent of each other. Rambam codifies this law as follows: [A man] should not marry a woman if he intends to divorce her. Nor should he maintain her as a wife […]
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