Parshah Columnists

The verse refers to “daughters,” but did he actually have more than one?

Often, the context we assign to experiences is really a projection of how we view ourselves.

When we can look back at the events of our past and embrace them for being the perfect training ground for who we are today, then we can begin to be the authors of our own lives.

Judah was essentially saying, "It makes no difference whether I think that my father was unfair. I have reached deep within myself and know that the most important truth is that I love my father and I cannot allow him such pain..."

Nancy called my father, complaining that the school van never came to pick up her kids. It didn’t take long for my father to realize what I had done . . .

But in the midst of the chaos and aggravation, there is a little phrase I hold on to that helps me keep my sanity.

It’s nice to be nice … until something of vital importance is at stake. (“Parsha Perks” with Dr Michael Chighel | Vayigash)

The Joseph-Judah relationship and the points at which their paths converge continue throughout history. From the sale of Joseph onward, Judah and Joseph constantly interact with each other, and their relationship continues in various forms. Here, in Parshat Vayigash, their interaction is a confrontation, as the Midrash comments, “‘Then Judah went up to him’ – advancing to battle.”

When you have occasion to give, give generously. Let the receiver know that you do so with enthusiasm and a full heart.

For others we can cry, but for ourselves we must act

What toll have the wanderings of the Jews taken on our national psyche? What consequences have there been to our spiritual and cultural identities as a result of centuries of globetrotting, usually out of urgent necessity rather than choice?

The story of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers after decades of bitter separation is one of the most dramatic in the Torah. On a deeper level, it describes the moment of self-revelation in which our deepest soul makes itself known to us

The significance of the two food gifts Joseph is said to have sent to Jacob from Egypt

At first sight this might seem a pathetic, powerless pleading: the cringing Jew, Judah, facing the Egyptian Vizier...

Joseph had suffered horribly. No one would have been surprised had these assaults on his person and spirit left Joseph with a twisted personality, determined to take his every revenge on a cruel world . . .

My voice of insecurity whispered: perhaps if we were lower key he'd be less hostile? Is our Jewish pride fueling his anti-Semitism? On the other hand, why should I compromise my identity as a Jew to appease his racist rage?

A moment of faith does not separate between long-lost loves. It holds them together...

I confess. There were times I wanted to make a bonfire on Shabbat. And play my guitar on a Jewish holiday. And to do away with the divider that separates men and women in the synagogue...

We all experience the pain of being treated unjustly by others. Anger is the natural reaction, yet it's counter-productive and often self-destructive. The story of Joseph and his brothers teaches us how to deal with these feelings...

Has someone accused you of lacking tolerance and in the process became intolerant toward you?

The purpose of the exercise was to move Jacob and family from Hebron to Egypt, about 200 miles as the crow flies across the Sinai Peninsula. But what a convoluted route this exercise took!

Why did each one cry over the other's future calamity? They faced similar fates. Why then did they not both cry for themselves?

What kind of question did Joseph ask his brothers? Doesn't everybody have a father?

From the rivalry between Leah and Rachel, through the animosity between Joseph and his brothers, the clash between Saul and David, the split between Judah and Israel, to the dual nature of the messianic redemption—a rift and twinship that extends across history.

Maimonides called his ideal type of human being – the sage – a rofe nefashot, a “healer of souls.

Judah—more than anyone else in the Torah—changes.

The confrontation between Judah and Joseph is deeper and more meaningful than just a story. It is two worldviews colliding.

The story of Joseph and his brothers is confounding. What was Joseph’s agenda? Why did he devise this intricate plan that included framing his younger brother?

We may feel that we are enslaved by the lure of the material, that we are trapped by its grip. Yet, the Torah reminds us that we have the power to free ourselves from its gravitational pull.