A Quick Torah Thought

Accused of spying by no other than their brother Joseph, in unison they reply, "We were 12 brothers from one father." How was that to extricate them from the incriminating accusations? Or, alternatively, exonerate them from blame? There's a famous story about two former Israeli Mossad spies who met on a train. One asks the other about his family, he says, instinctively, he's an only child. The other looks at him quizically, and then they laugh together. Mossad spies were always told in their cover story to say they were only children; that way, they wouldn't have to remember endless - and fabricated details. Like Chazal teach, the Hebrew word sheker - shin, kuf, reish - had nothing to stand on; the base of all of the letters are pointed wobbly tips, without stable grounding.  Likewise, having been caught - all of them - they knew that they would be more believable, and synchronized if they linked themselves to one person; also, there's less chance of an insidi...

How do you choose one child over another? No, I'm not talking about the grotesque moral dilemmas faced in the most extreme examples, like in the Holocaust, when a parent was given an ultimatum - this child or that one.  Every so often the examples we face are far more mundane. It could be financial. Or, even our time. Is it who needs us the most, or rather, who will feel more hurt if we give the time to another, to his or her sibling.  Joseph himself was to face that question, and in a manner of speaking, he wanted to correct the wrong that he felt his father had done. He tries to upend Jacob's plan, and right his father's hands when he chooses Ephraim over Menashe, though Menashe was the oldest.  Jacob says, "No, you are right, Menashe will be great, but Ephraim's offspring, and descendants will be greater." Jacob thus gave Ephraim the primary blessing.  All of the forefathers struggled with that dilemma, and dealt with it in different ways. Avraham never got...

In the Parsha of Vayetze we spoke about why Abraham is referred to as Yaakov's father; Hashem refers to Himself saying, "I am the God of Abraham, your father." Then, when Yaakov faces off with Lavan about his treacherous ways, he says, "If not for the God of Abraham … you would have sent me off empty-handed." Thereafter, when Lavan confronts Yaakov about "kidnapping" his daughters, he ultimately makes a covenant with him, juxtaposing his own grandfather, Nachor with Yaakov's grandfather: "The gods of Abraham and Nachor shall judge who is in the right," Yaakov ultimately swearing in the name of the fear of his father, Isaac. Things, though, change in the Parshah of Vayishlach. When Yaakov needs to confront his evil brother, Eisav, he prays to Hashem and asks for protection "in the name of the God of my   father, Abraham, and the name of the God of my father, Isaac." It would seem that the message here is two-fold. Firstly, af...

There's a constant refrain in Parshat Vayetze: "the God of  your father, Abraham." It's just that the person who is stated to be the son is Jacob, not Isaac. The Parsha starts out with the famous scene on Mount Moriah with Jacob and the ladder: "And behold! Hashem was standing over him, and He said, "I am Hashem, God of Abraham your father and God of Isaac, the ground upon which.. (Artscroll Trans.)." This notion, namely that Abraham is considered the father of Jacob, repeats itself under some very dire circumstances pertaining to Jacob. Laban is pursuing Jacob's slow-moving entourage, wives, children and livestock and catches up to him on Mount Gilead. Hashem revealed Himself to Laban the night prior, warning him not to lift a finger against Jacob, or anyone in his encampment. Laban has strip searched all of Jacobs' tents, and failed to find his idols (which Rachel had stolen); then, Jacob, fighting fire with fire says, "Had not the God o...