One of the many challenging verses in our parasha, Vayera, concerns the nature of Yishmael’s behavior at the moment he is about to die of thirst: “And G-d heard kol ha’na’ar (the lad’s … more

Rabbi Yehuda Amital, the founding rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, was known to say at the beginning of the new cycle of the Torah: “I don’t understand anything in parshat … more

I n stately prose the Torah’s opening chapter describes the unfolding of the universe, the effortless creation of a single creative Force. Repeatedly we read, “And G-d said, Let there … more

Bereshit is an endlessly fascinating parasha, with the creation of humankind one of its most thought-provoking themes. And G-d said, “Let us make man in our image, after our … more

There are many persons in this week’s parshah of Bereshit. Some are obscure, like Kenan and Mahalalel. But in addition to Adam and Eve, two others, Cain and Abel, are very well … more

Some pasukim of the Torah are “luckier” than others and their frequent repetition has enabled them to become active components in our tefilah experience. The beginning of our parasha, … more

It was advertised as a symposium at a major psychology conference. It was to be a discussion about memory and forgetfulness, but it turned out to be one of the most intense and instructive days … more

In March 2015 I had a public conversation at Yale with the university’s president, Peter Salovey. The occasion was the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Scholarships, created by the British … more

Is the manner in which we shake the four species random, or is there reason behind how we are supposed to wave them? One of Rabbi Zvi Dov Kanatopsky’s holiday sermons, in the book … more

A number of years ago, I struck up a friendship over Pesach with a Holocaust survivor, a former inmate of the Janowska work camp and Auschwitz. Towards the end … more