How do we celebrate the 15th of Shebat
This coming year, 2026, we will celebrate TU BISHBAT, the "New Year of the Trees ", Monday February 2nd. This "new year or cycle"...
MIQETZ IN FIVE ACTS
While in jail, Yosef correctly interprets the dreams of the imprisoned Pharaoh's officers. Two years later, Pharaoh has a dream. He is standing...
MIQETZ: Droughts, Floods, and the Exquisite Accuracy of our Tora
כי זה שנתים הרעב בקרב הארץ ועוד חמש שנים אשר אין חריש וקציר
There has been famine in the land for two years now, and...
MIQETZ: Having God In Mind
"Emuna" is generally translated as faith, and is understood as "believing in the existence of God". But the Emuna / faith of Yosef went...
VAYESHEB: Faith requires patience
YOSEF, THE MANAGER
Yosef was sold by his brothers and transported to the slave market in Egypt, where Potiphar, a minister in Pharaos court, acquired...
9. Hanukka and The First Independent Jewish State
Shimon and the First Independent Jewish State
During these days of Hanukka, I have tried to convey to my readers that the miracle of Hanukka...
VAYISHLACH: Shimon, Levi and the Israeli Army
ABRAHAM AND ISAAC
At the beginning of Jewish history, when we were not yet a people or even a tribe, but merely a small nuclear...
8. The Miracle of Jewish Resilience
THE END OF YEHUDA MACABEE
General Lysias arrived in Antiochia, the capital of the Seleucid kingdom, defeated Philipus, and became the regent of the 9-year-old...
7. Was this the greatest miracle of Hanukka?
ELEPHANTS JOIN THE BATTLE
The miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days was not the last Providential act of Hanukka. Although they were...
6. The Most Beautiful Unknown Story of Hanukka
This is the story of one of Yehuda Maccabee's battles, likely unknown to most readers, which I only recently learned about by reading the...
5. Recovering Jerusalem and Rededicating the Temple
AN INVINCIBLE ARMY?
When the Seleucid general Lysias learned of the defeat of his generals by the Jewish rebels led by Yehudah Macabi (see here),...
4. The beginning of the Jewish rebellion
THE BEGINNING OF THE JEWISH REBELLION
In 167 BCE, Matitiyahu and his sons Eleazar, Yehuda, Shimon, Yochanan, and Yehonatan led a rebellion known as the...
3. How do You Provoke a Jewish Rebellion?
כתבו על קרן השור אין לנו חלק באלוקי ישראל
"Write on the ox horn that we have no part in the God of Israel." (Jerusalem Talmud,...
2. A War Against God
HELLENIZATION and ANTIOCHUS
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, the Greek empire set out to impose its Hellenic culture peacefully and...
SUMMARY OF PARASHAT VAYISHLACH
Jacob returns to the land of Israel after spending 20 years in the house of his uncle Laban, in the city of Haran (in...
VAYISHLACH: The ‘NOs’ That Define Our Lives
THE SWORD OF ESAV
Ya’aqob Abinu returns to the land of Israel. He has many doubts. One of those doubts is whether his brother...
VAYISHLACH: Proportionality in the war against Hamas
Written in December 2023
THE NATIONS, UNITED AGAINST ISRAEL
Most of the world's nations systematically criticize and demonize Israel when Israel defends itself from terrorist attacks....
1. The Greek Emperor and the Jewish Priest
This coming Sunday night, December 18, we will celebrate Hanukka. This holiday reminds us of what happened over 2,000 years ago when the Greek-Seleucid...
HANUKA: Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions
Unlike other Jewish holidays like Pesach, there are no significant differences between the customs of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews regarding Hanukka. However, there are...
Megilat Taanit and Jewish Victories
Brief Overview of the Festivities Celebrated During the Second Temple Era, Primarily Reflecting the Victories of the Hasmoneans
The following text is drawn from Peninei...
