CHOCHMAS NASHIM:  VAYAKHEL/PIKUDEI, IT WAS CLEAR ALL ALONG!!! BUT IT WAS OBFUSCATED By: Suri Stern   One of this week’s torah portions is Parshat Vayakhel, G-d’s commanding Moshe to gather the Jews.  The first commandment is that we observe Shabbos. Shabbos is the quintessential revelation of our trust in G-d, the paradigm of which was…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: TERUMAH: BUILDING A TABERNACLE IN MY HEART By: Suri Davis     There was a very famous song written decades ago, which started with the words, in my heart I will build a tabernacle.  So I ponder, how I would build the tabernacle in my soul.   The tabernacle was built with teamwork. …

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: YITRO: BUT FOR THIS… By: Suri Davis   In pop culture, the ten commandments are IT.  There is nothing as memorable biblically as Charleston Heston, throwing down the ten commandments in anger at the idol.  THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.  And in a few verses, this act which was the raison detre for the creation…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: B’SHALACH: #EMUNAHGORERETEMUNAH By: Suri Davis   The Jews exit Eypt in last week’s torah portion.  They are now approach the Red Sea and the Egyptians are chasing after them.  Moshe tells them to stand there and see G-d’s miracle, but there was a disconnect, which G-d clarified by saying “Moshe, why are you…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: REVENGE IS SWEET By: Suri Davis This week had us commemorating the 75th liberation of Auschwitz, many heads of states came to Israel and the event was lauded.  I cant help but be a bit skeptical.  It has been 75 since the liberation, 72 years since the birth of the State of Israel. …

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: THE ENVY NATION By: Suri Davis   Looking back at the last few Torah portions, there is a lot of space taken about Joseph and his rise to Pharaoh’s viceroy.  His brothers are jealous of Joseph’s favored status with their father, Jacob.  Joseph was the eldest of Rachel, who was Jacob’s favorite wife. …

IN YOUR FACE ANTI-SEMITISM ANTI-SEMITIC RALLYS By:  Lenore S. Davis, Esq. Ldavis@Lenoredavis.com   In my last semester of law school, spring of 1989, I had to write an essay on one of the cases before the Supreme Court for its next session.  I chose Texas v. Johnson, a case regarding whether burning of the flag…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: WE ARE WICKS By: Suri Davis   The rebbe taught, Likutei Sichos vol. 5, pp. 200-201; Biuray haZohar p.299: “Chasidic thought explains that the inner purpose of exile is that the Jews should be scattered around the world in order to “rescue” sparks of holiness which had been lost in physicality.  Thus, redemption…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYISHLACH: COSTCO AND THE COMMUNAL BAD By: Suri Davis   Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gave a beautiful drasha on TorahCafe.com about the acts of Simon and Levi and their retribution against the entire city of Shchem. In this week’s torah portion, Jacob’s daughter, Dina, goes out of her home to see the women of…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: VAYETZE: PURELL V. FLU SHOT By: Suri Davis   In this week’s torah portion, we have Jacob fleeing for his life from his brother Esau. The rebbe raised the question of how it was that Abraham and Isaac, who dwelt mostly in the ancestral land of Canaan/modern day Israel, each had a child…