Breishit

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…

 WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM AVRAHAM’S DEFENSE OF JUDAISM     “Street-smart” people know how to deal with sticky situations. Not all of us are blessed with their talents. Indeed, even they may not be aware of how they naturally behave.  I would like to examine one of the techniques used by the “street-smart personality,”…

 A MESSAGE FROM A DOVE   At the end of forty days of rain Noah sent a raven and afterward a dove to verify whether the floodwater had subsided. The dove returned to Noah with an olive tree branch in its beak. The Talmud (Eiruvin 18b) explains that the dove here relayed to Noach the…