Posts by Yosef Farhi

              TRUE LOVE We find a perplexing passuk with regard to Yaakov’s love for Rachel. In describing the seven years Yaakov was forced to wait before he could marry Rachel, the Torah tells us: He felt that they were like just a few days due to his love for…

THE CHALLENGES OF THE FFB    (FRUM FROM BIRTH) Both Yitzchak and Rivkah had to pray hard until G-d granted them children. But a close look at the beginning of our parashah reveals that G-d actually answered the prayers of Yitzchak, not the prayers of Rivkah (Yevamot 64a). What was the reason for this? The…

              SIBLING RIVALRY IS MORE THAN KIDS’ STUFF    The Midrash (Rabba 56) provides some of the details missing from the Torah’s account of the  Akeidah (the “Binding of Isaac”).  Among other things, it tells us just what kind of approach Satan used in trying to trip up Avraham and…

HOW TO FOCUS ON PRAYER    We all want to pray with full concentration, yet our minds wander so often. This makes prayer pretty frustrating. The truth is that today, more than ever before, staying focused is a difficult goal for much of humanity. Is there any effective technique that will help us to stay…