Donald Trump is not very popular right now because of his recent comments about Muslim immigration, but he made earlier comments about terrorism and terrorists that echo an important lesson from this week's parshah, and from yesterday's daf yomi page.When Pharaoh was having trouble finding a satisfying interpretation to his recent dreams, the Sar Hamashkim [...]
After successfully interpreting the dream of Pharoah's chamberlain in prison, Yosef asks him if he would remember him and mention him to Pharoah. The parshah ends by saying that once the chamberlain was freed, not only didn't he remember Yosef but he also forgot him. Rashi asks, why the double language? "Since Yosef depended upon [...]
Last night we hosted Naftali Bennett at Beth Tfiloh Congregation. It was an extraordinary evening. Over 1,000 people from our community came to Beth Tfiloh to hear this leader of Israel and the Jewish people. The crowd had many young faces, including 250 students from all over North America and Israel who are currently being [...]
Yosef was stripped completely naked by his brothers.The Torah says, "They stripped him of his tunic, the fine woolen tunic that was on him."Rashi comments on the obvious superfluous words. He says they stripped him of the special coat that his father made for him, and they also stripped him of his regular clothes that [...]
The main question that Rashi is usually addressing with his comments is "Who Cares?"In the Yosef episode we find this around every detail.Yaakov sent Yosef to look for his brothers and the Torah says, "he sent him from the depths of Hevron and he arrived in Shechem."Rashi says that the depths of Hevron is inaccurate. [...]
Check out Naftali Bennett on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Catch him at Beth Tfiloh, Thursday December 3 at 8pmCome Early!!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Rashi points out at least twice that Yaakov saw himself in Yosef, more so than the other brothers. But did he also see his brother Esav?I find it interesting that Yaakov made the mistake of favoring his son Yosef after his own experience where his own father seemed [...]
It occurred to me as I was going over the parshah this week, why was Yosef dreaming about binding sheaves in the field? That was NOT the family business. The Torah tells us a few verses back that he and his brothers were shepherds. This was Yosef's vision of the future. He was trying to [...]
So much psychology in this week's parshah! Before we even get into the dreams, there is so much to learn in the few verses about the initial hostility between Yosef and his brothers.One good thing Rashi teaches us about the brothers comes from Rashi's comment on "They were not able to speak to him peaceably." [...]
I read a comment of Rashi on this week's parshah that I have difficulty with. After all of the traumatic episodes in Yaakov's life, he finally wanted to settle down. Rashi says that wasn't meant to be. The Yosef ordeal was bound to spring up on him.Hashem asks rhetorically, "The world to come is not [...]