Texts and Contexts

What's In A Name?

||| Vayeitzei ||| In this week's parashah, Vayeitzei [1], we read about the birth of eleven of Jacob's twelve children. About the first...

Calculating One’s Natural Life Span Plus a Surplus

Toledot In this week’s Torah portion we read about the blessings that our patriarch Isaac gave to his son Jacob. Let’s take a look at the...

The Meaning of The Cave "of Machpela"

Chaie Sarah In his search for a place to bury his late wife Sarah, the Torah [1] tells us how Avraham asked the Hittites to sell him "the...

How To Deal With Your Existential Void

Texts&Contexts Vayera Among the Rebbe’s analysis of Rashi's commentaries on this week's reading, Vayera [1], we will explore a phenomenon...

Avram + Avham = Avraham

Lech Lecha Two of the best known Jewish names are Abraham and Sarah, in fact they are the names of the progenitors of the Jewish people....

Understanding the Simple Text is No Simple Task.

Intro; Bereshit I decided that, with G-d's help, this year I want to give expression to my destructive instincts. One of the great...

Where Did the Dove get the Olive Leaf From?

In this week’s Bible reading, Noach [1], we read about the dove that Noach sent to see if the flood waters had subsided and he could get...