Commentaries on the Torah

What did Abraham mean when he told the Hittites (Genesis 23:4) "I am a visitor and a resident among you"? Was he a visitor or was he a resident in the land? A lesson about the relationship between a Jew and the physical location where he or she is found.

Abraham baked matzah on Passover over four hundred years before the Exodus. How did the patriarchs and matriarchs know how to observe mitzvot before the Torah was even given at Sinai?

How the three spiritual levels of Shabbat (the feminine, the masculine and their union) correspond to three stages of the day (evening, morning and afternoon). A deeper understanding of the layered nature of the day of rest.

Some of the sages say that “Noah was righteous in his generation” means that if Noah had lived in another generation, he would not have been considered so righteous. The Zohar compares the generation of Noah to those of Abraham, Moses and King David.

One of the emotional peaks of the Yom Kippur prayer service is a description of the ceremony performed by the High Priest in the Holy Temple.

Rosh Hashanah is not just the start of a new calendar year; it is the renewal of G‑d’s interest in our world that comes as a result of our accepting Him as King.

The connection between the start of a new year and the 98 curses read in this week’s Torah portion.

In Part 1 of this two-part class, we learned about two different categories of witnesses -- witnesses who corroborate the truth and witnesses who actually "make" the truth. In Part 2, we learn how the Jewish people's testimony that G-d exists leads to the Messianic perfection of this world.

"By the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall the one liable to death be put to death; he shall not be put to death by the mouth of one witness." (Deut. 17:6) What does it mean that the Jewish people are "witnesses" to the truth of G-d's existence?

This class begins with a history of the three-week period of mourning for the Destruction of the Holy Temple and continues with an analysis of a prophecy of Jeremiah that hints to the future transformation of "bitterness into sweetness."