It’s not black or white, but a gray area. Jonathan Zar, NY NCSY, shares with us some thoughts on this week’s parsha and teaches us how to place being a tzaddik within our grasp.
What do Stockholm Syndrome and this week’s parsha have in common? Jonathan Teitelbaum, NY NCSY & TJJ Ambassadors, provides an answer, as well as an explanation of the purpose of ears. Give it a listen now!
How should siblings treat each other? In this week’s parsha, Esau demands a portion of soup from his brother Jacob while the family is mourning the death of their grandfather, Abraham. By requiring this instant gratification, Esau put himself before his family, disrupting the solemn mood and eventually forsaking his status as the first-born son.
What are you bringing to synagogue on Yom Kippur? Rabbi Dovid Cohen, who has gone from an advisor for Long Island NCSY to Rabbi at Young Israel of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, leads us on a journey into the Unetanneh Tokef prayer, specifically the line “וּתְשׁוּבָה וּתְפִלָּה וּצְדָקָה מַעֲבִירִין אֶת רעַ הַגְּזֵרָה”, that
Is there such a thing as too much Tzedakah? Parshat Reei answers this in two ways. Rabbi Elliot Hecht, alumnus of Long Island NCSY and currently the principal of HANC Middle School, retells a story of two brothers whose generosity knew no bounds.
From this week’s parsha, Eikev, to Migilat Esther and Tehillim, Shoshana Polakoff, alumna of West Coast, Summer and NY NCSY Staff, criss-crosses chapters and verse to weave an incredible interpretation behind bentching, the blessing after eating bread, and how it can inspire action and chesed.
Amanda Esraeilian, an advisor for Midwest NCSY and former International President, examines the census process of the Land of Israel described in Parshat Pinchas and is struck by how fairly the land is then divided between families. But life is rarely proceeds so justly. How can we rationalize living through those unjust experiences?