Michael el Chayil

Again, based on what I heard from R' Cziment's amazing chumash shiurim; available on TorahAnyTime . Some review: Yosef HaTzadik was sold into slavery and purchased in Mitzrayim by Potiphar, an important official in Paroh's government. Potiphar's wife was, to say the least, quite smitten with Yosef. (In modern parlance, we'd call her a cougar.) Yosef HaTzadik, all of 17, abandoned and sold into slavery by his family, was able to resist her quite considerable charms. You know the rest of the story. From whence did Yosef derive the strength to overcome that challenge? Let's ask a little more pointedly: How did Yosef HaTzadik even have the will to seek a solution to his predicament? It was a monumental task and he overcame and, yes, the journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step -- but before taking that step is the decision to go on the journey. The medrash says that Potiphar had a very special residence. It had once been the palace of Paroh himself. When? I...

I think the following incident sums up all that needs to be said about the Reform Jewish Religion. A boy -- we'll call him Bruce -- was giving his Bar Mitzvah speech. "My Torah portion," said Bruce, "describes how are ancestor Jacob cunningly swindled his own brother, Esau, out of his blessings. I am so embarrassed to be his descendant." The rabbi put his arm around the bar mitzvah boy and said, "Bruce... I know you and I know your family. You are certainly not a descendant of Jacob, you are a descendant of Esau." (Yes, true story.) What follows is once again some of my gleanings from R' Cziment's amazing chumash shiur. But, let's ask ourselves... why did Yaakov have to fool Yitzchak with the whole charade? In fact, the targum Onkelos reveals to us that Rivka set the whole thing up because she had received a prophetic directive that this was the appropriate course of action. The question, therefore, is better stated as: Why did Yitzchak n...