I had an aunt who was a kindergarten teacher for many years. She once told me about a child who would bite other children. No amount of persuasion seemed to work. Then one day, when he was caught … more

This week’s parsha begins by telling us that Yisro heard what G-d had done for Israel in taking them out of Egypt: So “Yisro, father-in-law of Moshe, took Zipporah, wife of Moshe, after … more

A prevalent custom in Ashkenazic shuls is for the congregation to stand when the Ten Commandments are read from the Torah. This is a symbolic re-enactment of the Revelation at Mount Sinai, when the … more

The first 12 pasukim of our parasha, Yitro, relate the story of Yitro’s departure from Midian in order to join Moshe and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. The Torah initially gives Yitro three … more

One of the outstanding sections of parsha Beshalach is the Shirat HaYam Suf, the song of joy and thanks to Hashem for having miraculously saved us from Pharaoh and his hordes of chariots and … more

One of the saddest stories I ever heard was from a holocaust survivor who would say Kaddish on the tenth of Tevet every year, in the shul I grew up in as a boy. He was given the privilege of leading … more

When describing the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt, the Torah tells us that the cloud did not leave during the day and the fire did not leave at … more

In 1925, the American Astronomer Edwin Hubble demonstrated (as an extension of Vesto Slipher’s discovery in 1918) that the universe was not static, it was expanding: every galaxy in the … more

The Torah uses two phrases several times to indicate a longer-range prediction or association of fact. One phrase is “ad hayom hazeh,” literally translated to mean “until this … more

Our parasha, Bo, tells the story of the Jewish people’s departure from Egypt: “It came to pass at the end of 430 years, and it came to pass in that very day, that all the legions of the … more