My many years of teaching experience have taught me many lessons. One is that when students are encouraged to express their own ideas, they inevitably do so....
The class I was teaching on the subject of leadership, using the book of Genesis as a source text, was proving to be quite a learning experience for me. The...
A major theme of this week’s Torah portion is dreams. At the beginning of the portion, Jacob is escaping his brother Esau. On the way, he falls asleep and dreams of angels going...
Up until this point, the seventh session of the class using the book of Genesis to explore the concept of leadership, my role as teacher was a very easy one....
One of the highlights of parashat Toledot is Jacob’s theft of Esau’s blessings and birthright. Most traditional interpreters justify Jacob’s deeds as being necessary. Such readings of Jacob’s deception have led us to...
Here it was, the sixth session of the class which was using the book of Genesis as a source for studying the nature of leadership. It was proving not...
We would say that the Louisiana Purchase is among the biggest real estate steals in history. But also right up there is Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpeilah that we read about...
Before I entered the classroom that evening, I already knew that Zalman would come prepared with some dazzling piece of scholarship. The regular reader of this column...
All of us are familiar with the importance of hospitality, but a commonly known midrash elevates its significance beyond what we would expect. At the beginning of this week’s parsha, Abraham is communing...
