Guest Columnists

It is natural to become enveloped by the minutiae of our challenges. Awareness of the greater picture of which we are all a part, however, is essential.

A virtuous person thinks in terms of duties and responsibilities. What is my role? What is my obligation? But a leader thinks in terms of needs. What are the needs of this person? This organization? This population?

We share a communal identity and destiny, where we celebrate and mourn as one.

We can put up with quite a lot when we know there’s an end to it.

To successfully escape from prison, you need someone on the outside pulling for you. Take it from Jacob, who wouldn’t be found dead in Egypt.

"His eyes are red with wine," Jacob blessed his fourth son Judah, "and his teeth are white with milk." In a Chassidic discourse, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains the spiritual significance of "teeth", "whiteness", "redness" and "wine"

When Jacob was about to die, he called his twelve sons to his side. They gathered around him, and the twelve individuals became one unified soul . . .

In an age of instant messaging, instant coffee and instant soup, how long would you wait for a return on a favor before you wrote it off? Patience may be considered a virtue but for many, we are too impatient to be that virtuous...

One cannot help but wonder why Jacob chooses a blessing for posterity that is connected to the names of his grandchildren, not his children.

It would be helpful to know the date of the final Redemption. But the Redemption would not be perfect were it brought about with such help. (“Parsha Perks” with Dr Michael Chighel | Vayechi)

Jacob attempts to cut through the veil that conceals the events of the future, but he is stopped at a certain stage. Why does this happen to him?

Much of Judaism is a vast, sprawling set of laws that govern what you do. Where’s the G‑dliness, the holiness, in it all?

Why was it so important for Jacob to be buried in the Holy Land immediately?