Abraham’s concern
There is a puzzling sequence of verses in this week’s Torah portion: In Genesis 15:5, the Almighty promises a very old and barren Abraham that he will have a huge progeny – as many as the countless stars in the heavens. Abraham fully trusts in this promise and God accounted this faith as righteousness (15:6). […]
What is the source of faith?
“And he trusted in Hashem, and he counted it to Him for righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) Usually, this verse is understand as “He” counted to “him” for righteousness. God regarded Abraham’s faith as virtuous. But the Hebrew can go either way. So let’s see how the Sefer Avodas Yisrael spins this: Abraham trusted in Hashem, and […]
Noah and the Paradox of Bad Press
“These are the generations of Noah – Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generation…” (Genesis 6:9). The text could have just told us Noah was righteous. What is added by telling us he was righteous “in his generation”? In his commentary to this verse, Rashi (11th century, France) says that some of our […]
Now we begin…
“In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1) The Almighty only created the beginning. He left the rest to mankind. (Rabbi Leibele Eiger of Lublin)
First things
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) The first thing you must know is that God created the heavens and the earth! (Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassov)