We live in a generation where the darkness is such a darkness and people have accustomed themselves to the darkness that they actually perceive as light. The passuk says, “Hashem placed the world under choshech and it became night” (Tehillim 104:20).
In this week’s parshah we encounter an episode of unimaginable proportions. It’s a ma’aseh that we can’t imagine doing. We can’t even fathom it. But we all descend from the person who is the ba’alas hama’aseh.
“These are the children of Yitzchak ben Avraham. Avraham fathered Yitzchak” (Bereishis 25:19). The question is, after the Torah mentions that Yitzchak was ben Avraham, why does it need to say after that Avraham fathered Yitzchak? If I tell you Yitzchak is ben Avraham, most geniuses, even simple folks like me and you, could figure out that Avraham fathered Yitzchak.
In this week’s parshah, we see a very interesting criterion for a shidduch. Eliezer is sent by Avraham Avinu as a shaliach to bring about one of the biggest shidduchim in history. The Torah tells us that Eliezer davened to Hashem to send him the right girl for Yitzchak.
These parshiyos of the Torah teach us the foundation of our lives. A foundation is something upon which other things are built. If you have a small foundation, you can build a small binyan. If you have a large foundation, you can build a large binyan.
These parshiyos deal with the development of our Avos, and the common theme between all the challenges that Hashem put our Avos through is Emunah. Throughout our lifetime, challenges never cease. You should know that each one of us, in some form or fashion, endures the ten nisyonos of Avraham Avinu.
We have previously discussed the sin of the dor hamabul and we showed you the words of Rabeinu Tam, who says that if a person starts with a little bit of ta’avah and he allows himself to do whatever he wants, there’s no end to it.
I wanted to just point out that this was clearly demonstrated in the generation of the mabul.
Ais tzora hi l’Yaakov. Although the zman did not begin yet, the tzora, the milchama in Eretz Yisrael is the reason why we’re gathering for this short shiur. Many requests for a shiur were made, so we are hoping to share some words of chizuk and understanding with the olam. Hopefully this tzara should pass…
We see in the gemara Rosh Hashanah (16a) that on the chag of Sukkos we are judged regarding water. It says: On Chag we are judged on water. Now, lechorah on Rosh
Hashanah, a person was already judged regarding all his personal matters and all of it was sealed on Yom Kippur. So what is the idea of being judged on water on Chag?
We are in the middle of the aseres yemei teshuvah and the subject which we want to discuss today is obviously going to be teshuvah. First of all, the question is how do you make someone a ba’al teshuvah? That would be a very nice thing to know. Many of us have relatives that are, nebach, not connected, not observant, maybe grandparents, maybe parents, maybe uncles, cousins, friends, with whom we have some type of relationship;
