This week’s reading elaborates on the final chapter of Jacob’s life, when his eyesight failed him in his old age. Joseph (Jacob’s son) brought his sons for a final blessing from their grandfather. He moved them towards Jacob, who kissed and hugged them. Joseph then took his sons off of Jacob’s lap, carefully presenting them […]
Messages from 2017
Imagine a trusted colleague at work with a flawless track record of decision making. If that person brought his father to work one day and ushered him into your office to meet you, what is the first question you would ask him? Put your response on hold as we delve into the most dramatic scene […]
No one in Pharaoh’s inner circle was able to interpret his two disturbing dreams. Joseph’s reputation for interpreting dreams was his ticket out of prison and Pharaoh accepted his explanation. A famine was coming but it would be preceded by seven years of plenty. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried […]
This week’s Parsha begins with the story of Joseph and his brothers. When we look at the first part of Joseph’s life, he appears to be someone who keeps failing. However, when we look more deeply into it, we will see a new perspective on how to define failure and success. If an entrepreneur starts […]
Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3) Becoming an Entrepreneur of Self This week’s Parsha ends with the pact made by Yaakov (Jacob) and Lavan (Laban) in Gilead. Yaakov and his family left Lavan’s home without telling him, and Lavan pursued and ultimately caught up with them. A formal treaty was made; neither would harm the other […]
The birth and development of two of the most seminal personalities in Jewish consciousness is the subject of this week’s Parsha. And the youths grew up, and Esau was a man who understood hunting, a man of the field, whereas Jacob was a wholesome man, dwelling in tents. (Genesis 25:27) Rashi quoting the Midrash interprets […]
A Jewish Hero: Dignified, Satisfied, and Serene One of the most striking features about Judaism in comparison with, say, Christianity or Islam, is that it is impossible to answer the following question: Who is the central character of the drama of faith? In both of the other Abrahamic monotheisms the answer is obvious. In Judaism, […]
Rabbi O’s weekly Parsha: Vayeira (Genesis 18 Imagine driving late at night on a deserted highway. Your car breaks down, there’s no cell phone reception, you do not have food or water, and there is no sign of civilization. All of the sudden, a car pulls over and a kind-hearted man asks if you need […]
Why Are You Here? This week’s Parsha introduces us to Abraham, the first Jew. G-d told him to leave his native land, birthplace, and his father’s house and go to an unknown land. And G-d said to Abram, “Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land […]
After the flood God makes a covenant with Noah and his family. Although God will eventually make a covenant with the Jewish people at Sinai, He enumerates seven laws not only for Noah and family but also for all non Jews. They are the basis of morality and the foundation of a principled […]
On Yom Kippur we talk about making amends for our past misdeeds. For many people, thinking about the past is a catalyst for guilt. “I am okay now but I feel guilty about my past,” is something I have heard often. But this is a mistaken thought because guilt causes despair; it destroys, prevents rehabilitation, […]
This week’s Parsha contains the poetic parting words of Moses: Listen heavens and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth! (32:1) This verse begins Moses’ farewell song to the People by calling upon the heaven and earth to be witnesses to what he will be saying. He asks the people […]
A High Holidays Business Model I once read a story that I suspect is apocryphal but nevertheless contains a pertinent message for the High Holidays. It took place in Russia one hundred years ago. Two men who had been classmates and close friends in their small town’s Jewish school saw each other in […]
See–I have placed before you today life and good, death and evil… I invoke the heavens and earth today to bear witness against you. I have placed life and death before you, blessing and curse; and you shall choose life, so that you may live; you and your offspring. (Deuteronomy 30:15-19) Rashi explains how heaven […]
The following dialogue is from the film Manhattan: Yale: You are so self-righteous, you know. I mean we’re just people. We’re just human beings, you know? You think you’re God. Isaac: I . . . I gotta model myself after someone. Can one mode oneself after G-d? According to classical Jewish wisdom, the answer is […]
In 2012 the wonderful book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg was a trailblazer in explaining how habits that we might not even realize we have can dictate our lives. Habits emerge without our permission and are so powerful because they create neurological cravings, […]
One of the little known mitzvot in the Torah is the prohibition to unnecessarily destroy organic or inorganic matter. This prohibition is learned from the following verse. When you besiege a city for many days to wage war against it to seize it, do not destroy its trees by swinging an ax against them, for […]
Leading The Jewish high court has a rule when judging a defendant for a capital crime: the judges always look for some reason why the defendant shouldn’t get the death penalty. Perhaps he wasn’t aware of the severity of his crime, maybe it was inadvertent or a host of other reasons. When vote is taken, […]
Prayer is a prominent topic is this week’s Parsha and its effects can never be overstated. We have no idea of its power, whether to alter a decree, to incur favor, or simply to demonstrate our love for the Almighty in recognizing all the goodness we-friends and family-receive. Emotionally healthy people pray for positive things; […]
Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: V’etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) Torah is a Fact; Don’t Add or Subtract Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your G-d which I command you. Your eyes have seen what G-d did at Baal Peor…(Deuteronomy 4:2-3) The verse […]
This week’s Torah reading is the beginning of the last of the five books of the Torah and was spoken by Moses during the last five weeks of his life. It begins with his giving rebuke to the nation. We can learn a number of lessons about rebuke by analyzing how carefully he chose his […]
Moses had been the consummate conciliator for the past 40 years. From the sin of the Golden Calf when he appeased G-d and throughout the many ordeals during the 40-year desert sojourn, he is constantly an advocate for the wishes of his nation. This week, however, Moses reacts totally different to what appears to be […]
Who will go out before them …who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the G-d will not be like sheep without a shepherd. (27:17) What prerequisites did Moses request his successor have; what were his criteria for leadership? A leader “who will go out before them and who […]
Balak the king of Moav, was willing to pay Bilaam to curse the Jewish people. Why Bilaam? He is an interesting character who is unique in scripture because he was a non-Jewish prophet who was given the gift of prophecy on a level equivalent to Moses’. The Almighty gave Bilaam these powers so that the […]
In Judaism there’s much emphasis on life and fulfilling one’s potential. There’s a decree of the Torah that states that when one comes in contact with a corpse, there’s a spiritual contamination that takes place and a seven day process on how to return to one’s original state. A dead body represents a being that […]
There is no shortage of drama and tragedy in this week’s Parsha. The central narrative revolves around a group of 250 prominent people led by Korach, their outspoken and charismatic leader. He contested Moses and Aaron’s leadership. They gathered together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ‘It is too much for you! […]
We are introduced to the mitzvah of tzitzis at the end of this week’s Parsha. Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their generations…and when you see it, you will remember all of G-d’s the commandments…and […]
At this point in the Exodus story, things seem to be going well for the Jews. After being enslaved for 210 years, they had miraculously been freed and were now living in the desert. Their protection, food, and water were given to them in a miraculous way. One would think that this ideal existence is […]
The Mishkan (Tabernacle) was the portable place of worship for the Jews in the wilderness and the precursor to the Temple (Beit Hamikdash) that King Solomon would build hundreds of years later in Jerusalem. Due to the unusual structure and language employed in the Torah to describe the day of the Tabernacle’s completion, Rashi explains […]