During another eventful week of political power struggles, I learnt about the influence of Benjamin Disraeli on the modern Conservative Party. Benjamin was born a Jew. Scholars debate the cause: maybe it was a quarrel with Bevis Marks Synagogue over £40 membership; the community’s insistence on him becoming parnas (treasurer); or a deep ideological difference...
REVERED OR REVILED The blurb on Niall Ferguson’s biography of Henry Kissinger (Volume I: The Idealist, 1923-1968) reads: “No American statesman has been as revered or as reviled as Henry Kissinger. “Once hailed as ‘Super K – the indispensable man’ whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama – he has also...
CHANUKAH POWER The festival of Chanukah recalls the military victory of the Maccabees over the vastly superior Greek army as well as the miracle of the jug of oil in the Temple, with the seal of the High Priest, which miraculously lasted for eight days, instead of just one. The great Chassidic leader, Rabbi Levi...
PLAN B Our parsha this week begins with the words, Veyeshev Yakov Be’eretz Megurei Aviv, Be’eretz Keba’an. “Jacob dwelt in the land of the sojournings of his father, in the land of Canaan.” The word Vayeshev “he dwelt” has the connotation of wanting to settle down permanently. As Rashi explains, Jacob thought he could now...
THE MEANING OF YISRAEL When Jacob wrestles with the angel, his name became changed from Jacob to Israel ki sarita im elokim va’anishim vatuchal – “because you strove with G-d and man and you prevailed.” Significantly, the word used is not nilchamta, ‘you fought’ but sarita, ‘you strove’. Rav Ahron Soloveichik (1917-2001 – brother of...
CREATING HOLINESS When Jacob wakes up, after dreaming of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending, he exclaims: “How awesome is this place. This is none other than the House of G-d and this is the Gateway to Heaven.” [Bereishit 28:17] Jacob realized that the place he had chosen for his sleep was...
Where are you most comfortable being yourself? Who is the real you? At home? Or at work? Reading the newspaper? Or the Torah? Today we read how Jacob disguises as Esau to receive Isaac’s blessing of material goodness. There were specific reasons why the blessing had to come in this way. Indeed, for us, it...
THE PERFUME OF PARADISE When Jacob came before his father to receive the blessing, he brought the goat meat that his mother had specially prepared to resemble venison. He also brought some wine. He dressed in the special clothes that Esau always wore when he waited on his father. Following his mother’s instructions, he also...
PARSHA PALINDROME Rashi comments at the beginning of the sidra that Sarah’s age on death, expressed as one hundred years and twenty years and seven years (instead of one-hundred-and-twenty-seven years), is to indicate that when she was twenty years of age, she was as beautiful as a seven year-old, and when she was one hundred,...
ABRAHAM WAS SITTING Our sidra begins by telling us the G-d appeared to Abraham who was sitting at the entrance of his tent (Bereishit 18:1). Rashi here quotes a strange Midrash: Abraham was seated and wanted to get up, but G-d told him, “Remain seated and I shall stand. And the fact that you are...
