Parasha Insights

An 80-year-old Jewish man goes to the doctor for a check-up. The doctor is amazed at what good shape the guy is in and asks, "How do you stay in such great physical condition?"

I am Jewish, and I am a golfer," says the old guy, "and that's why I'm in such good shape. I’m up well before daylight and out golfing up and down the fairways. Afterwards, I have a glass of schnapps, and all is well.

"Well," says the doctor, "I’m sure that helps, but there’s got to be more to it. Something in the genes. How old was your father when he died?"

"Who said my father is dead?" The doctor is amazed. "You mean you're 80 years old, and your father is s… Read More »

A traveling salesman once knocked on the door of a home. Before anyone answered, he heard shouting inside. Furniture scraped across the floor. Voices were raised. Doors slammed. Chaos.

Finally, the door swung open.

A disheveled man stood there, breathing heavily.

The salesman straightened himself and asked politely:

“Sir, may I speak to the master of the house?”

The man wiped his brow and replied:

“You’ll have to wait a few minutes… we’re deciding that right now.”

Some homes are run by one person.
Some by two people.
And some by whoever wins the latest argument.

But behind the humor lies a serious truth:

Many people live under the same roof, yet do not know how to truly honor one another… Read More »

Many years ago, the great artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti was approached by an elderly man who asked him to evaluate some drawings.

Rossetti looked carefully and gently told him the truth: the sketches showed little talent.

The old man wasn’t surprised.

Then he asked Rossetti to look at another set, this time, drawings of a young student. Rossetti’s face lit up.

“These are extraordinary,” he said. “This artist has tremendous potential. With encouragement, he could become great.”

The old man’s eyes filled with tears.

“That was me,” he said quietly. “Forty years ago. If only someone had told me then… I gave up too soon.”

That is the tragedy of a life unlived.

And t… Read More »

Over the past week, I have found myself thinking about the approaching Seder night.

For the Jewish people, the Seder is not just a meal. It is the night when our history, our faith, and our future sit together at one table. 

Parents look into their children's eyes and pass on a story that has carried us through thousands of years.

And this year, that story feels more real than ever.

Some Seders are remembered for generations.
Others fade quietly into history.

This year will not be forgotten.

Around the world, Jews will sit down to their Seders carrying heavier hearts. Israel continues to face real and painful challenges. 

Missiles streak across the skies of the Jewish homeland. Antisemitism has resurfaced in places where w… Read More »

Today is the New Month of Nisan,  Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the month of miracles and wonders, as we see the open miracles in Israel and pray for a complete and speedy victory, Amen.

The first mitzvah given to the Jewish people, while still in Egypt, days before redemption, was not about freedom, faith, or even morality.

It was about the New Month of Nisan when the new moon will arrive.

“This month shall be for you the head of months…”
G-d shows Moshe a thin sliver of moonlight and says: “Like this—see it, and sanctify it.”

Moshe struggled. What exactly qualifies as “new”? How much light is enough?
So G-d pointed with His finger: This. This is what you must learn to see.

… Read More »

A small child walked to and from school every day. One morning, the weather looked uncertain. Dark clouds were forming, yet the child still made the daily trip.

As the day went on, the winds grew stronger, and thunder and lightning filled the sky.

The mother became worried. She feared her child would be frightened walking home from school, and she also worried that the storm itself might cause harm.

After another roar of thunder and a flash of lightning cutting through the sky like a flaming sword, the concerned mother got into her car and drove toward the school.

Soon she saw her child walking home.

But something unusual was happening.

Every time lightning flashed, the child would stop, look up at the sky… and smile.

Another … Read More »

Wow, how it has all begun to unfold.

For decades, a generation grew up doubting whether this land truly belonged to them, and compromises that cost us so dearly in blood and sacrifice. 

Yet it now seems that we are reaching a turning point. The Rebbe’s visionary words are beginning to materialize before our eyes.

So, the question is: What now? Where do we go after the second war with Iran?

This week, the writer and Chabadnik Nir Menussi shared a powerful idea in a Zoom lecture.

He suggested that the return of the Jewish people to their land unfolds in three stages.

The first stage was a national refuge.
The founders of the State of Israel wanted safety. After centuries of persecution, the Holocaust… Read More »

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Zachor — the Shabbat of Remembrance. It is the only time during the year that the Torah explicitly commands every individual to come and hear the public reading of Zachor this week.

Synagogues fill as we fulfill the mitzvah to hear: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt.”

First, Zachor is our annual confrontation with a truth the modern world resists: absolute evil exists. The Torah does not allow moral confusion. There is good, and there is evil. There is truth, and there is falsehood. Not every narrative can be contained. There are not always “two sides.” When there is terror, murder, and barbarism, the comman… Read More »

A Texas farmer once toured England. He met a local farmer and asked proudly, “How big is your farm?”

“Thirty-five acres,” the Englishman replied.

“Thirty-five acres?” the Texan scoffed. “Why, I can get into my truck at 8:00 in the morning, start driving, and by noon, I’m still on my farm. I eat lunch, keep driving, and at 5:00 PM I’m still on my farm.”

The Englishman nodded sympathetically.

“Yes… I once had a truck like that.”

Perspective changes everything.

And sometimes the Torah expands our perspective so dramatically that we fail to notice what it’s trying to show us.

The 187-Day Party

At the opening of Megillas Esther, King Achashverosh throw… Read More »

Abie and Sadie worked for years in the shmata business. Finally, they made it big, very big. To gain a little cultural legitimacy, they donated generously to the local orchestra and were invited to an elegant, black-tie dinner.

Sadie scans the room, searching for an opening. She overhears a group of women discussing Beethoven. This is her moment.

“Beethoven?” she says confidently. “I know him very well. Just the other day, I saw him on the number five bus going to the beach.”

Silence. Embarrassment. Then laughter.

Abie is mortified. In the car, he explodes:
“Couldn’t you sit quietly? You had to talk?”

“What’s wrong?” Sadie protests. “I did see Beetho… Read More »

The Haftorah of this week’s portion, Yitro, tells the story of one of Israel’s greatest prophets, Yeshayahu. Isaiah cries out:

“Woe is me; I am lost! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.”

An angel takes a burning coal from the altar, touches Isaiah’s lips, and declares his sin purged. Then God asks, “Whom shall I send?” and Isaiah answers, “Here am I; send me.”

What was Isaiah’s sin? And why did his mouth need to be purified by fire?

This question inspired one of the most powerful and compassionate letters in Jewish history—written by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the Rambam.

Maimonid… Read More »

When the Torah describes the splitting of the sea, in this week's portion, Beshalach, it says:

“And the children of Israel went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.”

But later, after the miracle has concluded and the Jewish people sing the Song of the Sea, the Torah records their words differently:

“For the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and horsemen, went into the sea… but the children of Israel walked on dry land, in the midst of the sea.”

There is a subtle yet profound shift in language.
At first, they entered the sea, and it became dry land.
Later, they describe themselves as walking on dry land inside the sea.

The opening verse of the tenth chapter of Exodus—this week’s Torah portion, Bo—contains one of the most unsettling and psychologically profound statements in the entire Torah:

“And G-d said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, in order that I might show My signs in their midst…”

Two glaring questions immediately demand attention.

First: Why does G-d say, “Come to Pharaoh”?
Would it not have been more appropriate—more grammatically and logically correct—to say “Go to Pharaoh”? Lech el Pharaoh, not Bo el Pharaoh.

Second—and far more troubling—the sequence of the verse … Read More »