Archive for the Bereishis Category

Kayin and Hevel are the first two human beings born into the new world created by Adam’s sin. Human beings are more distant in their relationship with G-d (although G-d still talks to them). They are condemned to death (although no one has died yet). To live,

Breishit Ch 1-Ch 2, v 3 Introduction: A lot of our ideas about “the Bible” come from fundamentalist Christians: “an eye for an eye” taken literally, seven physical days of creation, a universe that is a few thousand years old. Jews, on the other hand, believe the

Breishit 18 The Destruction of Sodom : Kindness and Anti-Kindness   (Ch 19) Ask: What was the sin of Sodom that was so bad that they deserved to be destroyed? After reading the story of Sodom’s destruction, people will generally answer that their sin was sexual perversion. The word

G-d hasn’t come to me to tell me about what He is planning to do in the world—recently, at least. But imagine that He did decide to inform me that He was planning to wipe out Al Qaeda, or the North Koreans, or some other group of

Our Patriarchs are each shown in the Torah as doing one specific thing that most typified who they were. With Avraham, it was taking in guests—he was a man who loved kindness and used it to bring people closer to G-d. With Yitzhak, it was “talking in

Breishit 15  Avraham and Circumcision: Why the Jews Part 2 Ask: Did you have your son circumcised? (or, when you do have children, do you plan to have your son circumcised?)  Most people will answer yes. Ask: Why? (Very few people will have a worked out answer) There are some very

Breishit 14  Avraham and Yishmael: Why the Arabs Today’s section deals with the birth of Yishmael, recognized by both the Jews and the Arabs as the ancestor of the Arab people. Ask: Is it a good thing that the Arab people came into existence? (People might be shocked at the

Avraham has just risked his life for the sanctification of G-d’s name. G-d did a miracle for him and he defeated the armies of four kings. Shem, the son of Noach, blessed him to be leader of the G-d forces of the world. And he gave back

Ask: Do you like to read newspapers? Why? A lot of us are addicted to news. CNN, the New York Times, Al Jazeera-people like to know what’s going on in the world. But how much of what we spend time reading about today will be significant tomorrow?

Avraham has gone through a difficult experience in Egypt. When he leaves Egypt, though, he has become a wealthy man, and G-d’s first promise to him is fulfilled. Now he has to deal with another problem-his nephew Lot. 1-When Avraham returns to Canaan, he goes back to

More than a decade ago, a best-selling book in the United States was called “Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” In brought to the front a question that has been asked from ancient times (according to the Talmud, Moses asked that question of G-d). If

Ask: Do you think the Jews are special, different? If so, how would you define that difference? (People might say drive, intelligence, concern for family, idealism-point out that none of these are complete explanations for the survival and impact of the Jews) In the Havdala service, we

Throughout the twentieth century, and continuing into the twenty-first, we see a trend almost unprecendented in the history of the world. The nations of the world have been moving towards a greater and greater unity. It started after World War I with the founding of the League of Nations.

G-d created human beings to use their free will to achieve the ultimate connection to G-d. His original Plan A was to put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and give them the opportunity to use their free will in resisting the Tree of Knowledge

We are living in a world where we hear increasingly the phrase “weapons of mass destruction”. Wars that could destroy the world or significant numbers of people in it are not beyond our imagination. Vast natural disasters-global warming, or a runaway asteroid-are also not inconceivable to us

Parshat Bereishit describes the Creation of the first man; Adam. Adam represents the totality of the human race and since every human being in existence is his descendant, any lesson that can be learnt about him will apply to mankind as a whole.   There is a fascinating

Bereishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8) By Rabbi Bourch Leff (Based on the teachings of Rav Yaakov Weinberg zt”l) Night Owls? Not! Have you ever had such a terrible day that you felt like there was nothing to look forward to in your life? Yet, somehow when you woke up the

“In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) Rebbe Yitzhak said: “It was not necessary to begin the Torah [here], but rather with “This month shall be to you” (Exodus 12:2), the first mitzvah commanded to the Jewish people. (Rashi to Genesis 1:1) Rashi begins