Manny Jacobowitz
Sh'mot - A Nameless Man Meets A Nameless G-d
Posted by Manny Jacobowitz | Tags: Sefer Shmot
What was Moses' name? Duh, Moses, right? Not so fast. Moses was the name given by Pharaoh's daughter -- but what did his parents call him? We never find out. For that matter, what are his parent's names? His whole family is nameless. Even Miriam is not named in this parsha. Tradition...
Vayera -- Abraham's apostasy and the Akeda
Posted by Manny Jacobowitz | Tags: Bereshit, Vayera, Lech Lecha, Rosh Hashanah
From a standpoint of ordinary human ethics, Vayera is perhaps the most difficult of all the parashot. When we read the Akeda, those of us with children shudder at the thought of a man unhinged enough to offer up his own son as a sacrifice, and cringe at a G-d who would put him to that kind of test....