Parsha Toldot: Torah Tricks

This week our Torah portion (parsha) is called Generations (Toldot in Hebrew) because the parsha starts out by saying that these are the generations of Yitzhak (Isaac) son of Abraham.  It tells us of the difficult pregnancy Rivka (Rebecca) had and her giving berth to twins:  Asov (Esau) and Yakov (Jacob).  It quickly hints at the character of the two, and then tells the tale of how Yakov bought the birthright of the firstborn from a tired Asov for a … Continue reading

Parsha Yitro: The Torah on Advice

What an exciting shabbat we are going to have this shabbat!   The parsha (weekly Torah portion) we will read includes haShem (god) actually talking to us.  Imagine being in a group of 600,000+ looking up from the base of a smoking, shuddering mountain, with the sounds of shofars (ram’s horn horns) trumpeting, and hearing/seeing the voice of god talking to each and every one of us… However, I get ahead of myself, for this is near the end of the … Continue reading