Posts by Yosef Farhi

   UNDERSTANDING DESTINY AND FREE WILL The well-known mishnah in Pirkei Avot tells us that “everything is foretold” (3:19).  In a similar vein, the equally well-known piyut, Yigdal, reminds us that G-d “sees to the end of an action from its outset.” Furthermore, we know that the events of the present are pre-ordained on Rosh…

PROBLEMATIC PERSUASION After Shechem raped Yaakov’s daughter, Dina, something very strange happened. He spoke to the heart of the girl (Bereishit 34:3). Rashi informs us that he persuaded her by saying: See how your father spent an enormous sum of money for a small plot of land. I will marry you, and you will own…

              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…