Parashat Beshalach: Testing in the Desert by Yaakov Bieler

The test of “Mara”.
Immediately following the exodus from Egypt and the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, the first opportunity for the freshly minted “Jewish people” to interrelate with HaShem and His Prophet Moshe, was at Mara (Shemot 15:22-27). It was here that in response to the people’s request for potable water, HaShem taught Moshe [...]

Does it Take a Miracle to See a Former Enemy in a Favorable Light? by Yaakov Bieler

Prior to their departure from Egypt, it would appear that the Jews literally “borrowed” a great many precious objects from the Egyptians.
                Part of the “Brit Bein HaBetarim” (the Covenant between the Pieces) (Beraishit 15:9-21) is the Divine Promise that when the Jews finally are redeemed from the servitude and oppression that they will [...]

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 this way (he related all that HaShem had Instructed him to say[1] to the children of Israel, and they did not listen [...]

Reflections 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 of that violence, by objecting to means while acknowledging shared ends, have added to that degradation.  My purpose here is to directly reject the ends, in other words [...]

Parashat 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 nature, as well as the types of actions that he is destined to undertake throughout his life, appears in [...]

Parashat 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 that caused ChaZaL to categorize him as a “Tzaddik” already at the relatively tender age of seventeen were discussed. His repeated adherence to a powerful idealism that precipitated certain exceedingly unpopular [...]

Parashat 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 apparent to all with whom he comes into contact, first manifesting itself in his being placed in [...]

The 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 the Seleucid Greeks and and the miracle of the little cruse of oil, bearing the seal of the High Priest, that lasted eight days [...]

Halakha 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 helped shape the course of halakha for the next five centuries.  Karo produced these works while the Zohar’s [...]

Parashat 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 as capable of leading and ruling, is the challenge confronting Pharoah vis-à-vis Yosef in Parashat Miketz.[2]
5) and they called [...]

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