By Rabbi Haim Ovadia We tend to classify many of the familial conflicts of Genesis under the rubric Sibling Rivalry. The term has become an idiom we feel comfortable with, a nice compact packet which describes a painful phenomenon. It conjures the image of a battle, not weapon-wielding, lethal one,…
Noah, the man of the land, started [rebuilding after the flood] by planting a vineyard. He drank of the wine, became inebriated, and exposed himself naked in his tent. Ham, Canaan’s father, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside the tent. Shem and Yephet took the robe…
By Rabbi Haim Ovadia Who initiated Avram’s exodus from Haran? In 11:31 we read the Terah initiated a journey from Ur to Canaan, in 12:1 God tells Avram to leave his land (is it Ur or Haran?), and in 15:7 God tell Avram that He took him out of Ur.…
Noah means comfortable. In 5:29 his father names him so with the hope the new child will bring comfort, yet in 6:6 and in 6:7 the verb נחם, which means to comfort, is used in its other meaning – to regret. Is there a connection here? Could it be that…
For Parashat Tetzave Mishkan Sweet Mishkan What can the Mishkan be analogized to? When I present this question at a class, the first, intuitive answer, is that the Mishkan resembles a home, and the second, which comes after a minute of contemplation, is the Garden of Eden. Like a home,…
For Rosh HaShana 5778 עוקד והנעקד והמזבח – These words are the refrain of a poem chanted by all Sephardic communities, from the Iberian Peninsula to North Africa, from Iran to Jerusalem. The meaning of these words is: He who bounds; He who is bound; The Altar. Those three Hebrew…
For Parashat Noah Genesis is the Book of Communication. Even before mankind is introduced, God creates the universe uttering words which become reality. Not only that, even the inanimate elements mentioned in the opening verses of the creation – the heavens, the earth, the abyss, God’s spirit, and the water…
Noah, the man of the land, started [rebuilding after the flood] by planting a vineyard. He drank of the wine, became inebriated, and exposed himself naked in his tent. Ham, Canaan’s father, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside the tent. Shem and Yephet took the robe…
The Torah is the Book of Life, and, as we understand in retrospect, the Tree of Life. It is the forbidden fruit which God denies humanity so it will be able to discover it on its own. In the opening chapters of Genesis, the story of creation is told in…