CHOCHMAS NASHIM: TOLDOT AND TERRORISM By: Suri Davis   Genesis 26:11 The king of Canaan, Avimelech saw that Isaac and Rivka were settling the land, that they were husband and wife, and clearly thought that his nation would harm Isaac, and so Avimelech directed that no one “touch” Isaac or Rivka.  That year Isaac sowed…

Chochmas Nashim: Ayshet Chayil: A Woman of Valor By: Suri Davis What have the last few parshiot/Torah portions been about and where are we now?  Abraham had to leave his land and family, leave his comfort zone and Rashi states Lech Licha, go onto yourself, go to your destiny, be uncomfortable in a new land…

Chochmas Nashim:  Tears Endure 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…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: LECH LECHA AND YAHRTZEIT OF RACHEL: AVRAHAM AND RACHEL’S CROSSROAD By; Suri Davis   There is a prayer to say at the grave of Rachel our foremother, which includes the following: “What can we say and what can we declare?  If for the first exile, which was only for seventy years, Rachel stormed…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: NOAH: PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE By: Suri Davis   Tanya Yomi for this week discusses a situation where there is a man who is praying to G-d, a seemingly wicked man appears before him and starts a fight with the praying man.  The founder of Chasidism, the Baal Shem Tov, had followers, chasidim, and those…

YIZKOR: AN ESSAY By: Suri Davis   It has been a year and a half since my father, ZTL, passed away, and since I started saying Yizkor for him.  As Orthodox Jews, we are taught that the soul is eternal.  We know from the Book of Jeremiah, and Rachel’s tears upon the horizon, that her…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: MAN, THE BRIDGE By: Suri Davis   The apex of the Book of Jonah we read on Yom Kippur eve, is G-d’s lesson to Jonah.  Jonah is tired after all he has gone through with the storm ridden ship, being swallowed by a whale, and providing warnings to the citizens of Ninveh that…

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: TO FORGIVE IS DIVINE By: Suri Davis There is a popular retort to the famous Rosh Hashanah query:  “How was your Rosh Hashanah?”  Reply: “I’ll let you know next year.”  If you are reading this, then the answer, at the very least is, “I survived.”  After two and a half years of Covid,…

Mazel Tov Esther and Nachman Goodman on the birth of a grandson born to their children Riki and Tzvi Gewirtz

CHOCHMAS NASHIM: KI TAVO By: Suri Davis               The parshah almost appears to be a repetition of parshat Bechukotai, if you follow G-d’s commandments, you will be rewarded, and if you don’t follow G-d’s commandments, then you will be punished.  A recurring theme in any religion.  Let’s review some interesting points up close.            …