Breishit

   SELF HELP AND TORAH   A cup can that is filled half way can be looked at as either half full or half empty.   The difference is perspective. From which way are you looking at the cup, from the bottom to the top or from the top to the bottom? We can look at many…

DEEP INSIDE KEVER RACHEL   According to one view in the Midrash, Rachel passed away before Leah because she offered an answer ahead of her older sister at a crucial moment in their lives (Bereishit Rabba 74). When Yaakov asked his wives, Rachel and Leah, for permission to leave the home of their father and…

SEEING THROUGH THE SKIES   And it was when Yitzchak became advanced in age and his eyes dimmed from seeing… (27:1). Rashi explains why Yitzchak had lost his eyesight: when Yitzchak was on the altar and his father was about to slaughter him, the Heavens opened up, the Angels were crying and their tears fell…

 YISHMAEL THE BAAL TESHUVA   I was coaching a very serious yeshiva boy who was feeling horrible about himself. He said that he had done some type of sin, and that he could never repent. Repentance to him meant to regret the past so much that he could uproot the past. He felt that there…

  THE GREATEST TEST FOR MANKIND A few years back, there was a small minyan that gathered in a room adjacent to the house of one of the neighbors. The intimate group in its cozy quarters used to invite a diverse choice of speakers between Mincha and Arvit Friday Night. One fellow shared the following idea,…