Vayechi – End of Days — By Ben
With parsha Vayechi, we end the book of Bereishis (aka Genesis). It feels just like yesterday we were at Rosh Hashanah closing in on the end of the Torah. As […]
Tag Archives: parsha
The Torah’s Mr. White — By Ben
Whether it is Breaking Bad’s Walter White, Harvey Keitel’s character in Reservoir Dogs, or the Casino Royale Bond villain, there’s something about naming a bad guy Mr. White. You might think […]
Facing Unpleasant Truths — By Ben
When I lived in Manhattan I had this job at a restaurant near the Natural History Museum. The management was abusive, the tips were abysmal, the brunch shift was a […]
Chayei Sarah – How a Wedding is Like a Funeral – By Ben
There’s a line in Koheles (Ecclesiastes 7:2) that basically says, If there’s a choice between going to a wedding and a funeral. Go to the funeral. The reason being that nothing connects […]
Bereishis – The First Rejection — By Ben
Bereishis is one of my favorite parshas in the Torah. I started learning Hebrew simply by reading the first chapters and comparing it to multiple translations. The nuances of the […]
The Four Days After Yom Kippur
I’m davening maariv, the evening prayer, immediately following the final moments of Yom Kippur. We’ve not broken the fast, we’ve not even done havdalah, but as I’m praying, all I […]
Yom Kippur – The Maybe Mindset — By Ben
Yom Kippur is upon us once again. A looooooooong day of fasting, fretting, apologizing… we all know the drill by now. But in all seriousness, Yom Kippur is a tremendously […]
Nitzavim – No More Excuses on Rosh Hashanah
As we approach the high holidays, the final parshas of the Torah are often overlooked in place of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur ideas. But there’s a reason we read […]
Bribes, Bias, and Blindspots — By Ben
We all understand that judges and public officials probably shouldn’t take bribes. As the definitive example of corruption, it tilts the scales of justice towards the rich, clouds judgment, and […]
Eikev – Reward in This World? — By Ben
Last week’s parsha Va’eschanan ends, “You are to guard the commandments and the statutes and the laws that I am commanding you today, to fulfill.” (Devarim 7:11) Rashi clarifies on that last […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 