Parashat Yitro 5768 PART ONE: Moshe, the man PART TWO: Torah Democracy PART ONE: Moshe, the man Yitro, who merited having a parasha of the Torah named after him, is a Biblical personality who deserves more scrutiny than is usually accorded him, probably because the information regarding him is quite sparse. What do we know

Read Rabbi Kahana’s Beshalach 5767 dvar torah Parashat Beshalach 5768 – Part One: Agendas Pharaoh, in a last desperate attempt to save whatever prestige was left of his monarchy by forcing the return of the Jews to slavery, brings together a mighty military force composed of chariots and cavalry, as stated in Shemot 14, 7 ויקח שש מאות

I am writing in advance of this week’s visit by Mr. George Bush, the President of the United States, to the Holy Land on the first stop of his Middle East tour of the region’s capitals. The professed purpose of the visit is to create an alliance of “moderate” Arab states (like Saudi Arabia) against

Parashat Vaera 5768 Our Egyptian bondage experience and subsequent miraculous exodus (Yetziat Mitzrayim) play a conspicuous role in our liturgy. In addition to the Pesach festival dedicated to these historical events, we recall the Exodus every time we recite Kiddush. It is the closing recitation of the daily pesukei de’zimra, it links kriat shema and

Parashat Shemot 5768 Read last year’s dvar torah – Parashat Shemot 5767 Parashat Shemot 5768 In your Torah experiences of yeshiva learning or rabbis’ speeches etc., did you ever come across the following ten names: Shlomo ben Yosef, Dov Gruner, Mordechai Alkachi, Yechiel Drezner, Eliezer Kashani, Ya’akov Weiss, Avshalom Chabiv, Meir Nakari, Meir Feinstein and

Parashat Vayechi 5768 and The Tenth of Tevet (Read last year’s dvar torah too – Parashat Vayechi 5767) PART ONE: The Tenth of Tevet PART TWO: I Would Prefer Not To Be Here When Redemption Comes PART THREE: Yosef Is Not God’s Messenger PART ONE: The Tenth of Tevet The fast day of the tenth of Tevet

Parashat Vayigash 5768 PART ONE: Breaking Out of Our 4 Walls PART TWO: Man’s Best Efforts, God’s Decree PART ONE: Breaking Out of Our 4 Walls A year has past since the OU has made my weekly divrei Torah available to their very wide reading public. So this is a suitable time to pause in

Parshat Miketz, Chanukah and Annapolis 5768 Part One: God’s Signature Part Two: A Wonderland Part One: God’s Signature Often Jewish history presents strange fellow travelers but no stranger than the trilogy of Yosef’s travails, Chanukah and Annapolis all in the same timeframe. In parshat vayeishev, Yosef, a young man of seventeen, is sent by his

Parshiot Vayishlach and Vayeishev 5768 PART ONE: The Language They Understand PART TWO: Trusting in God to Provide PART ONE: The language they understand The two parshiyot of Vayishlach and Vayeishev, when viewed together, paint a picture of a conspicuously polarized Ya’akov. In parashat Vayishlach, Yaakov’s sons, lead by Shimon and Levi, decimated the city

Parashat Vayishlach 5768 Part One: The Rav and the Rebbe Part Two: Jewish Courage Part One: The Rav and the Rebbe I am writing this on the fourth of Kislev 5768, on the very day 2350 years later when HaShem appeared to the prophet Zecharia (7:1) with the magnificent message כה אמר ה’ שבתי אל