Faking It
Imagine what Jacob must have felt like dressed in Esau's clothing, stealing into his father's room and conniving to receive the blessings intended for his brother. Wholesome, sensitive Jacob, who had spent his entire lifetime closeted in the "tents of study," donning hunting clothes and pasting artificial hair on his arms and the back of his neck to procure "the dew of heaven and the fat of the land."
The Chassid and the Fool at the Leipzig Fair
One day, the great Chassid Rabbi Hillel of Paritch (1795-1864) was struck with an immense longing to spend Shabbat with his Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch. But to realize this desire was quite another matter: it was already late in the week, and many miles separated Babroisk (where Rabbi Hillel lived at the time) from Lubavitch. There seemed no way to make it to the Rebbe in time for Shabbat.
Grace After Meals
After breakfast we search for the portion of the week in my big Torah and in Miriam's brightly colored Children's Bible. Today it is Beshalach, and I tell Miriam of the miracle of the manna. She is delighted but slightly puzzled that G-d has not sent some manna here for the hungry children of India. I go on reading, and the problem of hunger and bread follows me even here.
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Parshat Toldot
Torah Portion for week of November 6-13, 1999
Toldot means "children," "offspring" and "generations"; it also means "generations" in the more general sense—that which a person generates and produces. Thus, "the toldot of Isaac" are Isaac's two sons, Jacob and Esau, as well as the deeds and achievements of Isaac—both of which are the subject of the Torah section of Toldot.
The Emissaries
Never before has one man built a following so large in number, so diverse, so highly motivated, and so successful in the furtherance of his vision. At the core of this phenomenal success is a seemingly benign legal dynamic, first employed more than thirty-six centuries ago when Abraham sent Eliezer to find a wife for his son.
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