Vayechi

While on the surface, a lot of what a woman is engaged with seems physical or banal, in truth it is the essence of spirituality.

We share a communal identity and destiny, where we celebrate and mourn as one.

G‑d created Adam and Eve unclothed, and they walked around the Garden of Eden . . . naked. If public nudity was fine with G‑d, why does the Torah tell us to be modest, to cover up, to subdue our natural allure? What changed?

We can put up with quite a lot when we know there’s an end to it.

Jews don’t glorify death, even though we believe that there is glory after death. Instead, Jews celebrate life. So, long after someone dies, we continue to celebrate his or her life. Even the Torah’s description of death can be viewed as a description of life. Especially the death of Jacob.

When Jacob was about to die, he called his twelve sons to his side. They gathered around him, and the twelve individuals became one unified soul . . .

In an age of instant messaging, instant coffee and instant soup, how long would you wait for a return on a favor before you wrote it off? Patience may be considered a virtue but for many, we are too impatient to be that virtuous...

Why didn’t Jacob take the time to bury his beloved wife in the Cave of Machpelah?

“This was not during the rainy season, when I could claim that it was because of the mud that I did not bring her to Hebron. The roads were dry and good. Still, I buried her alongside the road to Ephrath . . .”

Did Joseph’s brother’s ever own up to their father about the crime they committed against their younger brother?

Jewish women (myself included) are notorious for advertising their martyrdom...

People of the highest stature, high priests, looked for a wife from the daughters of Asher . . . Which is odd, if you think about it. Why would such a holy man pursue a wife from a neighboring tribe just because she was beautiful?

Don’t we all harbor inside of us memories that elicit our strongest emotions against individuals who deceived or misled us?

As I searched her face, I noticed a tear trickling down her cheek which, moments later, was joined by several more.

Does Joseph think his father doesn’t know what he’s doing?

It is natural to become enveloped by the minutiae of our challenges. Awareness of the greater picture of which we are all a part, however, is essential.

A virtuous person thinks in terms of duties and responsibilities. What is my role? What is my obligation? But a leader thinks in terms of needs. What are the needs of this person? This organization? This population?