In this week's parasha, the focus opens not with sacrifice, but with light — the command to bring pure olive oil to kindle the Menorah in the Mishkan. The question the rabbis immediately ask is: why does God need light?

The Kohen Gadol, the High Priest, wore eight magnificent garments and lived a life of total devotion, representing the entire nation before God in a way no one else could. Parashat Tesave covers the priestly garments, the consecration of the Kohanim, the twice-daily Tamid lamb offerings brought on behalf of all Israel, and closes with the golden incense altar at the heart of the Tabernacle.

The keruvim teach us an important lesson about what it means to be young at heart...

God’s covenant with Israel isn’t just about lofty commandments. It’s about caring deeply for the everyday ups and downs of real life. These detailed laws show a God who chooses to share space with us and guide how we treat one another in the practical matters and beyond...

Moses and the people reach Sinai. God makes them an offer, they accept and the rest is history....

The children of Israel are fresh out of Egypt and they quickly find themselves between the ocean and a pursuing and angry pharaoh. God opens the sea for them and the courtship between God and Israel begins. In this episode we look at the dynamics of the God-Israel relationship. It's delicate parameters and the misconceptions around what it is not. We also draw from it how we might find God in our own lives. 

Pharaoh admits he is wrong. He admits he has sinned.
And yet—nothing changes.

Why?
Because when truth threatens the structure of your life, people rarely surrender. They bargain.
They accept reality on their terms, in pieces, with conditions.

This parashah exposes a pattern that lives in all of us:
the moment when truth becomes too expensive—and we try to negotiate with it.

Pharaoh is God's focus here. Moses is reminded of why he has been asked to do this entire campaign in the first place, and is consistently told by God to "Go to Pharaoh". Pharaoh is put on trial by an onslaught of plagues. And by the 7th he reaches a pivotal change....

Moses is born and sent by God to liberate the Children of Israel from Egypt. But he pushes back, resists, and feels that his mission is a failure by the end of the parasha. What do we learn from this early episode of Moses' epic leadership about freedom, hope and the Jewish people?

At the close of Genesis, Jacob blesses his children. Two blessings that stand out in their positive predictions are those of Judah and Joseph. 

In this episode we examine the developed aspects of these progenitors amongst the Jewish people, and how they have faired and are fairing in the world. We look at the core of Jewish identity and what aspects are essential to it. 

What place do they hold within you?