…be the beginning of tomorrow’s blessing. That is a thought that can change a life. [1] Bereishit Rabbah 84:7; see Rashi to Gen. 37:2. [2] Gen. 37:2, and see Bereishit Rabbah 84:7. [3] Tanhuma, Vayeshev, 8. [4] Yoma 35b. [5] Shabbat 55a. LIFE-CHANGING IDEA #9 Seen through the eye of faith, today’s curse may be the beginning of tomorrow’s blessing….
Find all 50 life-changing ideas listed below. Click on any of the parsha titles to read the full essays. FROM THE BOOK OF BEREISHIT: BEREISHIT: God believes in us even if we don’t always believe in ourselves. Remember this, and you will find the path from darkness to light. NOACH: Next time you meet someone radically unlike you, try seeing…
…Abraham’s journey toward that unknown destination at the far horizon of hope. [1] Rashi, 12:1. [2] Bereishit Rabbah 39:2. [3] On the principle, “What happened to the fathers is a portent of what would happen to the children,” see for example, Nahmanides, commentary to Genesis 12:6. On Nahmanides’ use of this principle throughout his commentary, see Ezra-Tzion Melamed, Mefarshei Hamikra…
…honour God by honouring His image, humankind. [1] Rashi on Bereishit 18:1; Sotah 14a. [2] Moreh Nevuhim 11:42. [3] See Shabbat 127a. [4] Ibid. See also Shavuot 35b. [5] Dover Shalom ad loc.; cited in Peninei Chassidut (Jerusalem) to Bereishit 18:2. If the third interpretation of this story is correct, do you think Abraham was justified in speaking to God in this…
…other. Yes, there was conflict and separation; but that was the beginning, not the end. Between Judaism and Islam there can be friendship and mutual respect. Abraham loved both his sons, and was laid to rest by both. There is hope for the future in this story of the past. Bereishit Rabbah 60:14 Bereishit Rabbah 51:4 Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer Do…
…are capable of feeling both, can defend their bodies without endangering their souls. [1] Rashi to 32:8; Bereishit Rabbah 76:2. [2] Sanhedrin 72a. [3] Siftei Chachamim to 32:8. [4] Solomon Buber, comp., Tanhuma, Lech Lecha 19 (Vilna, 1885). [5] Bereishit Rabbah 44:4. [6] See Christopher Gowans (ed.), Moral Dilemmas (Oxford: University Press, 1987), for a collection of philosophical essays on this subject. [7] See…
…that is designed to test them. The test and outcome reaches a climax in the next parasha. The Core Idea When Yosef is brought from prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, both men refer to God. Three times the word Elokim, God, appears in Bereishit chapter 41. On the face of it, this is surprising. Egypt was not a monotheistic (belief…
…for the sake of his brother Aaron? Is it more natural to have a sibling relationship like those characters from the Book of Bereishit, or like Moses and Aaron’s? Is the relationship with your siblings more like those in the Book of Bereishit or like that of Moses and Aaron? Would you say that the sibling relationship between Moses and…
…to our aspirations, indifferent to our existence. We are not wrong to strive to perfect the world, refusing to accept the inevitability of suffering and injustice. We hear this note at key points in the Torah. It occurs twice at the end of Bereishit when first Jacob then Joseph assure the other members of the covenantal family that their stay…
…l-m-d, meaning to learn or teach. The verb does not appear even once in Bereishit, Shemot, Vayikra, or Bamidbar. In Devarim it appears seventeen times. There was nothing like this concern for universal education elsewhere in the ancient world. Jews became the people whose heroes were teachers, whose citadels were schools, and whose passion was study and the life of…