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Parashat VaEira: Study as a Means for Allowing One to “Hear” by Yaakov Bieler
The Jewish people’s lack of receptivity to Moshe’s message of impending redemption. The final total demoralization of the Jewish people during their enslavement in Egypt is reflected in Shemot 6:9. And Moshe spoke in just...
Read more of this articleReflections on Tzniut and Beit Shemesh by Aryeh Klapper
The unconscionable physical and verbal violence against women in Beit Shemesh and elsewhere have degraded the religious concept of tzeniut (modesty) by associating it with misogyny and oppression. Some Orthodox condemnations...
Read more of this articleParashat Shemot: Coming of Age and Searching for Oneself by Yaakov Bieler
Coming of Age and Searching for Oneself Going outside one’s immediate family as part of the process of identity formation. The seminal event in Moshe’s coming of age, the action that simultaneously reveals to us his true essential...
Read more of this articleParashat VaYechi: Yoseph’s Post-Adolescent Righteousness is Met with Parental Skepticism by Yaakov Bieler
Yoseph’s righteousness not only during adolescence, but also beyond. In the essay for Parshat VaYeshev, “A Powerful Adolescent Commitment to Righteousness”,[1] Yoseph’s special qualities...
Read more of this articleParashat VaYigash: Goshen as Part of Yosef’s Master Plan by Yaakov Bieler
Yosef shows himself to be a brilliant strategist, even when it comes to planning a place for his family to live when they come to Egypt. Yosef, the brilliant administrator who possesses a gift for management that is glaringly...
Read more of this articleThe Unknown Miracle of Chanukah by Jeffrey R. Woolf
A quick survey of the types of lectures, shiurim, articles, and various other discussions of Hanukkah that flood the internet reveals that they focus on two, eminently predictable, motifs: the victory of the Hasmoneans over...
Read more of this articleHalakha and Kabbalah: Rabbi Joseph Karo’s Shulchan Aruch and Magid Mesharim by Shlomo Brody
Amongst the great kabbalists and legalists produced in 16th century Safed, R. Yosef Karo clearly stands out as one of, if not the, most influential figure. Though his legal compendium Bet Yosef and code Shulchan Aruch, Karo...
Read more of this articleParashat Miketz: Yosef’s Egyptian Makeover by Yaakov Bieler
The problem entailed in Pharoah’s making Yosef a ruler over the Egyptians Taking an individual who comes from humble beginnings as well as from a despised national group and transforming him into someone who others will perceive...
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