GivTorah

Before anything else, yesterday was Veterans Day. I'd like to take a moment of visually represented silence not only in honor and memory of all the brave individuals who died defending the freedoms that I take for granted daily but also for their families and loved ones who never cease to suffer because of those incredible sacrifices.  As my late mentor and Rebbe R' Ari Fuld HY"M (1) once told me, when a Jewish soldier dies in the Israeli army their seat always remains empty at their family's Shabbat table. That pain is no less for American families. Please join me for a moment of silence.  ....... ....... ....... Thank you.  The process of grieving for loved ones is long, necessary, and painful. It takes a while to wrap one's mind around the fact that they'll never speak to a beloved parent or mentor in this world again, and it's a challenging enough process in the "best" of circumstances. But what do we do when, on top of that pain, the survivi...

  Parshas Vayera was an emotional roller coaster of a Parshah. What began with the promise of a new child for Avraham and Sarah (1) ended with the near slaughter of that child on Har Moriah. (2) Along the way Sodom was destroyed, (3) Lot was drugged and raped by his two daughters, (4) Sarah was taken by Avimelekh, (5) and Sarah had Avraham expel Hagar and her young child from their home. (6) Parshas Vayera raises profound theological and religious questions. How is it that Avraham could advocate against the destruction of a city of rapists (7) but not for the life of his own innocent child? (8) How could Avraham so wantonly kick Hagar out of his house just a few chapters after hearing that his own descendants would become an enslaved and oppressed people in a foreign land? (9) How could a kind and loving God test someone by commanding them to kill their child, and how could Avraham have even thought for a minute that passing the test would involve actually going through with that?...