by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Jan 9, 2014 | Beshalach
The Talmud (Sotah 37) gives us a glimpse of the internal politics among the tribes of Israel immediately preceding the splitting of the Red Sea. The tribes were arguing for the privilege of being the first to jump into the Sea, especially the tribes of Benjamin and...
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Dec 27, 2013 | Va'eira
In today’s parsha we read how Moshe argued with G-d about his competence to carry G-d’s message to Pharaoh to release the Jews. “The children of Israel did not listen to me,” he says, “Why should Pharaoh?” (Exod. 6:12). This is a...
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Dec 20, 2013 | Shemot
Here is one of the less discussed miracles that took place in Egypt. The pharaoh of Egypt had decreed that all the Jewish boy babies were to be drowned at birth. Yocheved, Moses’ mother, hides her newborn Moses for 3 months and then places her baby in a caulked...
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Dec 6, 2013 | Vayigash
I remember taking a walk with my wife in one of the towns along the Hudson. We stumbled upon an art gallery. From the window we could see an unusual amount of Judaica so we decided to walk in. In fact the proprietor was an Israeli woman, happy to see us she began...
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Nov 29, 2013 | Chanukah
I was thinking about Chanuka, and a new idea occurred to me. Chanuka, the Festival of Lights, occurs at the darkest time of the year — the time when you would least expect it. And this is an important characteristic of Judaism: that light, and holiness, occur...
