by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 6, 2020
This week, particularly right now when we are in an uncertain moment as a country, I’d like to share a thought on the parsha which touches on what the Torah believes to be the basic principles with which we should live our lives. …
by Rabbi Hayyim Angel
Posted on September 15, 2020
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by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on September 14, 2020
To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…
by Dr. Yonatan Grossman
Posted on September 14, 2020
To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 23, 2016
Our responsibility to speak truth to power and protect victims of injustice, whether Jew or non-Jew, is a major theme of one of the central stories of parashat VaYeira, the story of Avraham arguing with God to defend Sodom and Amorah. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 18, 2016
Why did God test Avraham with the command to offer Yitzchak as a sacrifice? This is really two questions. First, what purpose was the akeidah meant to serve? And second, how could God have commanded such a reprehensible act, implicitly condoning murder, even if the plan was to retract the command all along?…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 27, 2016
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by Rabbi Aryeh Klapper
Posted on October 26, 2016
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by Dr. Michelle Friedman, MD
Posted on May 25, 2016
How might we understand the Hagar narrative? We find the first Hagar episode in Lech Lecha, where she conceives Ishmael. Parshat Vayera swings between emotional highs and lows and is rich with lessons concerning how God’s children should properly parent their own offspring so that the legacy of creation is transmitted forward.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 30, 2015
Do we want a religion of fire or ice, of passionate religious fervor or sober, detached rationality? In many ways, Modern Orthodoxy has chosen the latter. This goes beyond an emphasis on the intellectual, on prizing Talmudic scholarship and broad academic achievement.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on November 4, 2014
As our parasha opens, God appears, va’yeira, to Avraham while he is sitting by the opening of his tent. Immediately thereafter, Avraham sees, va’yar, three men standing near him. He sees them again, and he runs to greet them. This pairing of God appearing and Avraham seeing brings us back to the beginning of Parashat Lekh Lekha.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on October 18, 2013
Is it ever permissible to kill an innocent person in the name of God? Both our religious and ethical intuitions scream “no”! Halakha and Torah values consistently underscore the sanctity of human life and the injustice of allowing harm to come to innocent people, and from an ethical standpoint such an act is the very definition of murder.…