Category: Torah Portions

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants the U.S. to keep the sanctions on Iran and potentially even increase them. It seems that President Obama and the international community disagree. I would argue that Netanyahu has the Bible on his side to back up his point of view. Here is why….

On the issue of freedom and free will, the Bible tells us that we have a choice between life and good or death and evil. Although it is up to us, the Bible implores us to choose life and good and to reject death and evil (Deuteronomy, 30:15-19). But is…

A couple of years ago I visited a Chassidic Rebbe who is known to be a proponent of the idea that each individual has a unique God-given purpose in life that he or she is obligated to follow. At the time I had just started working on forming Youth Directions–an…

It’s little surprise that Jacob is revered by the Judaic tradition as a model for correct leadership. Jacob didn’t reject his father’s or his grandfather’s wisdom. Instead he combined them into a far more powerful mode of leadership. To illustrate this, let’s return to the biblical narrative (in this week’s…

In this week's Torah portion we read that God told Moses to tell the children of Israel, (Leviticus 25:23) “For the land is mine, you are but sojourners and residents with me.” Does this mean that if one bought a property and the deeds are in one's own name it…

Below is an excerpt from Rabbi Levi Brackman's upcoming book: "Jewish Wisdom for Business Success" that relates to this weeks' Torah portion Vayakhal which begins with what Moses did upon descending the Mountain with the second set of Tablets. As Moses came down the mountain and saw the Israelites performing pagan…

This week’s Torah portion talks about the sin of the golden calf. Moses had ascended Mount Sinai to receive instructions from God and the two tablets of the covenant known in Hebrew as the luchot habrit. Moses was supposed to have been away for forty days and forty nights. However,…

Judaic sources do not attribute Moses’ stunning rise to power to his intellect or to his amazing oratory. In fact, Moses had impaired speech. He may have been an amazing strategist and tactician, but these are not seen as his most praiseworthy attributes. According to the Jewish tradition, his greatest…

A student of mine recently started to become religious and decided to go to Israel and study in a Yeshiva (rabbinic college). When I questioned his motives he told me that since all rabbis and religious people he had ever met were such incredibly good and kind people he was…

The prophet Malachi (3:24) prophesised about the day when “he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,” a recent experience in a London state primary school made me yearn for the fulfilment of this prophecy. I was invited to talk to children in a state school regarding…