Bereishit

There’s a miniature kaf at the beginning of the parashah. As Gabriel Slamovits explains, what the diminished letter says about how Abraham mourned for Sarah fits well with a prominent teaching of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zt”l.

This week's Parashah introduces us to the city of Shechem. Tamar Weissman examines the various appearances of this city throughout Tanakh, explaining that while it is a city of rupture, it is also one of covenant and fraternity.

David Curwin explores the evidence that Jacob may have made a fatal mistake in not conquering Canaan upon returning.

Sarah Golubtchik suggests that the numerous parallels between the puzzling episode of Yehuda and Tamar and the story of Yaakov, Rivkah, and the Berakhot are the key to unlocking this mysterious episode.

Levi Morrow explores how the Rabbis use creative exegesis to save the world from drowning in a flood

Meshulam Gotlieb analyzes a midrash on Jacob's ladder dream to understand Jacob's lifelong fear, how he became so fearful and how it affected his life.

The stories of Hagar and Ishmael's banishment and subsequent rescue by the angel and that of a cast-out baby Moses on the Nile rescued by Pharaoh's daughter are seemingly dissimilar, but this close reading by David Curwin argues that their strong parallels have a lesson to teach about the importance of being active and not succumbing to passivity.

Sam Glauber examines Abraham's place in his society.

Yisroel Benporat juxtaposes the Akeidah with the Splitting of the Sea as similar tests of faith.

Abraham’s participation in the war of the four kings against the five fits uncomfortably in the broader narrative of his life. Rabbi Mark Glass argues that this Abrahamic episode articulates a core Torah perspective on military might.