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The Torah Learning Library of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah

Archive: December 2021

The Last Kindness

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on December 17, 2021

Jacob is sick and believes that he is about to die. Eager to ensure that he will be buried in the land of Canaan, he calls Joseph to his bedside and asks him for one final favor: “Do for me chesed ve-emet, kindness and truth.…

painting of joseph being begged for help from his brothers

Don’t Forgive So Fast

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on December 9, 2021

Psychologists and those offering religious guidance will often talk about learning to forgive those who have hurt us even if they have never—and will never—apologize. It is possible, however, to be too quick to issue that forgiveness. There are costs in rushing to forgive others.…

blue sky, looks like dusk or twilight, with the word dreams written in puffy white clouds

Dream the Impossible Dream

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on December 2, 2021

Dreams are a significant part of the lives of both Jacob and Joseph. Jacob dreams of a ladder that is anchored in the ground and goes up to heaven while the angels rise and descend on it. He also dreams in Laban’s house of an angel who tells him to return to the land of Canaan.…

pretty and cute cottage with a white picket fence in the mid-fall as golden leaves are falling on the trees behind the house and on the lawn in front of the house

Our House Is a Very, Very Fine House

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 11, 2021

Yaakov is the first person in the Torah who articulates the idea of a house of God. “This is nothing other,” he says upon waking up, “than the house of God and this is the gate to heaven” (Gen. 28:17). The Rabbis point out the power of that concept of a house of God and its association with Yaakov.…

Give Truth to Yaakov

by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on December 2, 2011

Give truth to Yaakov, loving-kindness to Avraham…” (Micah 7:20), the prophet Micha asks of God, and thus, in kabbalistic literature, Avraham comes to represent the attribute of chesed, loving-kindness, while Yaakov represents the attribute of emet, truth.  While it is not at all difficult to see how Avraham is associated with loving-kindness  – witness his welcoming of the angelic guests –  it is quite challenging to see Yaakov as embodying the principle of truth. …