The WebYeshiva Blog

A Pair, But Not the Same By Sarah Rudolph After Yaakov meets Rachel, the Torah (re)introduces us to Rachel and Leah as a pair – “And Lavan had two daughters” (Bereishit 29:16). From the very

A rose among thorns – but did she pick up a few? By Sarah Rudolph Rivka, the second of our Matriarchs, is, interestingly, not traditionally criticized for pushing her son Yaakov to deceive his father.

For over 50 years has taught thousands of students from all around the world. This week we introduce you to Ilana Goldstein Saks. She has taught Tanach for many years and is also a professional

Don’t Worry! By Sarah Rudolph When Avraham tasks his servant with traveling “to my land, to my birthplace” (Bereishit 24:4) to find a wife for Yitzchak, the servant expresses a fairly reasonable concern about what

Where’s Sarah? By Sarah Rudolph When three “men” show up at Avraham’s tent-step while he’s recuperating from circumcision (Bereishit 18:1), one of their tasks is to foretell the birth of Yitzchak, which will occur a

What’s the word? By Sarah Rudolph As Parshat Lech Lecha begins, it looks very much, at least on a superficial reading,  like the story of Avraham (then called Avram); his wife Sarah (then Sarai) is

WebYeshiva was proud to be invited to Limmud Budapest, which took place October 28-30 and held at the The European Youth Centre in Budapest (EYCB). The conference was attended by over 300 people, from Hungary

Light in the Darkness of the Flood By Sarah Rudolph What are the important features on a survival ark? At the beginning of this week’s parsha, God informs Noach of His plan to destroy the

Well, this is weird By Sarah Rudolph Among the most difficult verses in the Torah’s account of the earliest generations of humanity (which, of course, has no shortage of puzzling verses to puzzle over), Bereishit

Moshe, Father of the Prophets By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman Parashat VeZot HaBracha is the conclusion of the Torah. The parshah ends with God burying Moshe Rabbeinu and eulogizing him with these words: Never again

Studying History By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman Parshat Ha’azinu is God’s review of our nation’s history. It describes our past, our present and future. The Ramban himself praises the parsha with these words: Now, if

A Future of Crises By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman This week’s parsha contains God’s warning about the future of the Jewish people: God said to Moses: You are soon to lie with your ancestors.This people

Not in Heaven? Then Where? By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman In this week’s parsha (Devarim 30:11-12) we learn one of the fundamental and remarkable concepts of Judaism. כי המצוה הזאת אשר אנכי מצוך היום לא־נפלאת

Is Everyone Happy? By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman Anyone who has ever read even a most superficial work on Jewish history is familiar with the history of the Hassidic movement. Historians emphasize the aspect of

On Human Dignity By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman One of the fundamental ideas in Halacha is kavod ha-beriyot which can be understood (if not actually literally translated) as human dignity. The Halacha views the protection

Mazal Tov to Rabbi Noah Tile who recently received semicha from Rabbi Brovender at WebYeshiva.org. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? My name is Noah Tile. I live in Toronto, Canada, with

Do You Believe in Magic? By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman In this week’s parsha there is a long list of magical practices in which we are forbidden to engage (Devarim 18: 9-12). It is not

Permission to eat meat By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman Elsewhere in the Torah we are taught the rules for eating meat as part of the system of animal sacrifices but in this week’s parsha the

Old, But Not in the Way By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman One of my favorite musicians is Jerry Garcia. Jerry Garcia acquired his fame as the leader of the Grateful Dead, but he worked and

Divine Consolation – On Shabbat “Nachamu” By Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman This Shabbat is the Shabbat after the fast of Tisha b’Av. It is traditionally referred to as “Shabbat Nachamu”- the “Shabbat of Being Consoled.”