CHAIM WALDER: LAME RESPONSE By: Suri Davis   OMGGGGG HIS BOOKS!!!  Oh his books.  Ahhh his books, but his books, and the books, and the shelves of books, the books, the boooooooks, oh the bookssss!!!!!   Chaim Walder abused his authority.  Chaim Walder looked the look, walked the walk, talked the talk, and for twenty…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAERA: YET IN EVERY GENERATION By:  Suri Davis Today in Jewish History, Portuguese Expulsion (1496) Following the death of King Joao of Portugal in 1494, his son King Manuel I ascended the throne. When his legitimacy as heir to the throne was challenged, Manuel wished to marry Princess Isabel of Spain, daughter of…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYECHI:  MULLING MY FATHER’S UPCOMING YAHRTZEIT By: Suri Davis   There are several interesting points in this week’s parshah which hit me from the get go, which I will share.   Genesis 47:28-9.  This week’s portion starts with “And Jacob lived in Egypt”, and the next verse states, and the dying days of…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYIGASH: K’SHEM SHEMIVORCHIM AL HATOV, MEVORCHIM AL HATOV WHO SAYS IT’S EVIL?   This week’s torah portion is foundational on the question of faith and appearances of evil.  Joseph lost his mother at a young age.  His jealous brothers throw him into a pit, then sold him to Egyptians as a slave.  They…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: MIKETZ, SHADOWS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE By: Suri Davis I am getting feelings of de ja vu and whispers of the future in this week’s Torah portion.  Two weeks ago, Joseph has two dreams, one of them has to do with sheaves of grain.  His brothers’ bundles of sheaves bow to his…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYEISHEV/VAYISHLACH:  FAVORED NATION STATUS By: Suri Davis In a nutshell, this week’s torah portion discusses how Joseph, the favored son of his father, Jacob, the object of abject jealousy by his brothers, reveals to his family the dreams he has that the sheaves of wheat belonging to his brothers, bow to his sheath…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYISHLACH:SALTED CARAMEL By: Suri Davis In last week’s Torah portion, we discussed how even when G-d punished Rachel for selling her night with Jacob for Ruben’s dudaim, and for stealing her father’s idol, Rachel’s being buried on the way to Bethlehem turned out for the best, in that she prayed for the Jews…

CHOCMAS NASHIM: VAYETZEI: GRATITUDE By: Suri Davis   Birth & Passing of R. Dovber of Lubavitch (1773; 1827) Kislev 9 is both the birthday and day of passing of Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch, son of and successor to the founder of Chabad Chassidism, Rabbi Schneur Zalman·of Liadi. Rabbi DovBer was known for his unique style of “broadening…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM:  TOLDOS:  OH WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE By:  Suri Davis Truth, the Hebrew word Emet, are core values to the Torah.  The Hebrew word consists of three letters, Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Mem, the middle letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and Taf, the last letter of the Hebrew…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: CHAYEI SARAH By: Suri Davis On Rosh Hashanah, when we blow the shofar, the sound of the shofar is like a lamentation, like the voice of one who is crying out.  The medrash asks what the purpose is of the 100 voices of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. The answer is that it…