A Quick Torah Thought

Much can be learned about the tenor of parent-child relationships from our weekly Torah portion, but perhaps, most importantly how complex they are. Very little is clear, even from the get-go. Eisav was named such by both of his parents; only Yitzhak gave Yaakov his name. It would seem that there was unanimity about the design for Eisav's life, if only embodied by his parents' joint decision to name his Eisav, because, on a grammatical level, he came out asui , fully-baked, ready to go, almost like a full-fledged, ruddy and hairy man. Yaakov was named, though, not after his appearance but rather his actions, the word akev meaning heel; Yaakov had grasped Eisav's heel, but nonetheless, it was Eisav who first left Rivka's womb. As the years go on, their characters shape. Eisav is painted as an expert hunter, an unmatched skill in a hunter-gatherer society, where domestication was probably first taking root; it could very well be that this dominance over the natural k...

Avraham Avinu, the Torah teaches us, was blessed with "everything" after his beloved wife passed away: "Avraham was now old, advanced in years, and Hashem had blessed Abraham with everything." This verses raises certain complexities. Even on a basic algebra level, if y + x = everything, and the x represents his wife, that means in the absence of his wife he was complete, or had everything, which most certainly raises question about God's view, or rather Avraham's view of everything. He essentially had, or got everything, when his wife wasn't there, which means that on composite, having everything precludes having your wife by your side.  Also, the sages teach that it's a husband who most feels the death of a woman, "a woman only dies to her husband." Sarah, our mother, the first of all of our matriarchs, and probably the most important one for ensuring that Yitzhak would remain pure and unadulterated by Yishmael's negative influences, d...

Abraham, our forefather, is referred to in Isaiah as the rock. Listen to Me, you who pursue justice, You who seek G OD : Look to the rock you were hewn from, To the quarry you were dug from. A lot can be learned from this week's parsha from our forefather, the first of our three forefathers, who set the tone, and example for what it means to be a leader.  Firstly, in this week's parsha, we see the gentleness with which he conveys Hashem's message to Sarah that she needs to believe in herself to be able to have a child.  When she denies having laughed, he said, "You did laugh," not an actual laugh, but a subconscious one, in other words, in the depths of your heart, you yourself were in a state of incredulity, not believing that you could be with child. You have to overcome that hump, and believe that it can really happen.  Then, when Hashem seeks to smite Sodom, he refuses to do so without conferring with Abraham, because He knew that he would teach his childre...

If the Jewish people ever did have an Achille's heel, at least in the Modern State of Israel, it was Ishmael, Muslim Arabs, who have fought for this land, tooth and nail, unrelentingly, no holds barred. We've seen methods that, to the best of my knowledge, were never seen before, far more gruesome than Kamikaze fighters who nosedived in WWII into American warships. The very sanctification of death, unhindered in purpose and application, has put shivers down the spines of a whole generation of Israelis who grew up here on suicide bombs, and attacks, that had no purpose other than spilling Jewish blood. The sheer venom spewed by imams in mosques, the lone wolf attacks on civilians, the indiscriminate killing of Jews and non-Jews alike may be no longer a surprise to Israelis, but reflected a new conceptualization of the notion that Jewish blood was free for the taking at any cost.  My grandfather, of blessed memory, Moshe Barth Z"L told me that the Commandant of Auschwitz II ...

The "ravenous" raven was stymied by his own suspiciousness; the Midrash goes so far as to say that he refused to do his mission because he feared that in his absence, Noach was going to play around with his wife. And so, he circled the ark, fearfully, making sure he wouldn't catch them in the act itself.  The dove had no such fears, perhaps personified by the fact that our sages teach us that the dove is monogamous - it can be trusted. It trusts others and others trust him, and he knows that it can demand that trust, and integrity of purpose.  Where is all of this hinted at in the text?  Well, for one, "it went to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth." For one, the raven wasn't a risk taker, he didn't trust himself, so how could he trust others? The very same suspicion that coursed through him was manifested and reflected in how he viewed others. Distrust is crippling, you don't get far in society and in this world when you're alw...