The Weekly Mission- Torah Portion by Isaiah Rothstein

Parshat Miketz (Chanukah), We have light! My holy friends, many of us are familiar with the Jewish people’s incessant struggles throughout history. Chanukah is one of the reminders of our nation’s grueling past. The Jewish people were oppressed and murdered for expressing their spirituality, and as a result, people hid their passionate hearts. Many Jews were also persuaded by the precious “gifts” that the Greeks had to offer and a spiritual genocide began. “Few against the many,” the Jews stood up for their passion. They were not willing to sacrifice their relationship with G-d and the Hashmonayim fought for victory. The ashes of the Holocaust still float in the air, leaving many Jews feeling abandoned by G-d. We sometimes say, “If there is a G-d, how could something so tragic happen?” As a nation, we have been through hell on earth and we have entered yet another exile. We were sold into slavery and were uncertain regarding our destiny as a people. But then, light emer...

Yaakov’s role in the Torah has seemingly now been placed on the back burner, so-to-speak. As the Torah states, he is now a man who is “settled.” He fulfilled his mission of bringing the 12 tribes into existence, essentially the progenitors of the Jewish people. Joseph was someone who Yaakov loved dearly. Yaakov invested more time into Joseph than he did for his other sons. Joseph stayed close with his father and learned the secrets of HaShem’s world with him. As we see in this week’s parsha, Joseph, like the other leaders in the Torah, quarrels with his brothers. Joseph provokes his brothers by telling them his dreams, which indicate that they will one day bow down to him. This bothered them greatly, and thus, they sold him into slavery. Joseph is sold into slavery and then sent down to Egypt. (Please note, this is a very simple summary of this story--- there is a lot more to be discussed and analyzed further). While in Egypt, Joseph, like the rest of our forefathers, was blessed with ...

Weekly Mission: Parshat Vayishlach In this week’s Torah portion, Yaakov’s journey continues. Yaakov left his father’s house as an attempt to save himself from Esav. He was broke, alone and uncertain, but Yaakov continues, enduring many more tests, and he prevails. He returns to his father’s house with his wives, children, excessive livestock, and peace (relatively) with his brother Esav. The extent of Yaakov’s greatness is portrayed in a small but important story that also demonstrates today’s unfortunate truth about our great nation. With G-d’s help, however, we can build ourselves up as individuals, so we can collectively settle in harmony. “Yaakov was left alone and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn” (32:25). As Yaakov’s family settles for the night near the Jordan River, Yaakov crosses back over the river in order to retrieve forgotten utensils. The midrash points out that when Yaakov crossed over, he was greeted by a shepherd. This...

Parshat Vayetzei In today’s day and age, Jews come in all different “shapes and sizes.” In this week’s parsha, we learn about the holy conception of the twelve sons of Jacob, later called the 12 tribes. The children of Rachael, Leah and the two maidservants were all born with different attributes, different opinions, different outlooks and different ways to be a Jew, but they were still united as the twelve tribes, different, but very much the same. As the story progresses, we learn more about our matriarchs and patriarchs. For example, we see one of Yaakov’s (Jacob’s) very important attributes, that permeates his relationship with G-d, Rachael and Leah, and his uncle Lavan, and his self-understanding as well. Like I always say, we must try to understand who these great people were in order to know why must follow in their footsteps. Yaakov was a very strong-willed person who took action when necessary. He fled from his father’s house to escape Eisav’s murderous hand. He left his comf...

My first question is how come turkey and stuffing go so well together? In this weeks parsha we learn about the famous Kinyan (transaction) between Jacob and Esav for the status of first born. We learn about the sibling rivalry of the brothers that eventually led to Jacob fleeing for his life. Above all, there is one specific thing that we are constantly learning in the Book of Berieshis that keeps me thinking: "I am the God of your father Abraham, fear not, for I am with you, I will bless you and increase your offspring because of Abraham my servant" We are incessantly reminded by HaShem that we are going to forever inherit Aaretz Yisroel (Israel) and that we will always be in existent. HaShem constantly blesses our forefathers but then the obvious question is why? I mean don't you think Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov could get the hint after hearing it once? A life lesson… We are constantly confronted with hardships and struggles in our lives… sometimes things don't ad...

Weekly Mission: Parshat Chayie Sarah I remember when I was in Israel I was more concerned with the girls I met then the friends I had. If a met someone new, I always asked myself “could this be it? Is she the one?” It began to get to a point where it was emotional torture for me. Rabbi Yehoshua Paltiel from Lev HaTorah already specialized in Love and Marriage, so I figured he would be the right man to talk to. Upon telling him my situation, he quickly responded with an analogy. Imagine an intersection with stop signs at all four corners. You are going east and your soul mate is going south. The goal is for both of you to meet at exactly the right moment at that stop sign. My Rabbi continued with saying, if one is going to continuously pull over to the side of the road, he loses momentum and speed, he is not focusing on himself or what he needs, but what he thinks he needs. When the moment comes that you reach the stop sign, your soul mate has already been and gone. If one were to focus...

Weekly Mission: Parshat Vayeira Rebbetzin Esther Jungries speaks about the many ways in which one can give charity. We commonly associate the word “charity” with money. We assume that, in order to give charity, we must give it through monetary actions. Rebbetzin Jungreis says, however, that charity comes in all forms. Helping someone cross the street, holding the door for someone and picking up your father from the bus stop, are all acts of kindness and charity. Charity is an act that gives people something that they are lacking. One of the most beautiful acts of charity and kindness is the warmest gesture of all, a smile. When one smiles to another, they are gracefully saying, “you exist.” In this week's parsha (Torah portion), we learn more about our forefather Avraham. Avraham’s entire life was devoted to bringing G-d into the world. He woke up every morning to serve G-d, he wondered about the constellations and searched for the meaning behind everything. Sodom was a place tha...

In the world we live in, it is very hard to distinguish between good and bad, between light and darkness. The Baal Shemtov says that the evil inclination is at its finest when one believes that bad is truly good and that bad is in fact a mitzvah. For an example, if I say to myself “It’s okay to sleep late today; in fact it’s a mitzvah! Not only will I be more rested, but I will learn more Torah!” This is the yetzer hara at its best. Sometimes in the world, it’s hard to differentiate between black and white and everything in between. Sometimes things fall into shades of grey. Confusion and lack of motivation lead us to struggle with everything that we know is real and true because our yetzer hara is trying to overpower us. One Avraham Avinu’s character traits was the power to distinguish between the bad and good. Any bad that surrounded him, he stamped out or turned away from. We learn this important lesson many times in the parsha. One example is with Avraham and Lot’s herdsman. Avraha...

Parshat Noach The Sages teach us that every world calamity is a continuation of the destruction of the Holy Temple (lo aleinu – may we not experience any world calamities). Regarding the Sages’ statement, I think the same is true concerning the sin of Adam and Eve. After they ate from the tree, everything got worse. Adam not only neglected to repair their mistake (I say “their” because man plus woman equals man, i.e. man is not man without woman), but he even went the opposite direction. In this week’s Torah portion, we read the famous story of Noach and the ark. We might even regard this story fondly as the tale of a man who guided his family, along with giraffes, zebras and other animals onto a huge “boat-like” structure. We think of rainbows, floodwaters and everything in between. But this story is serious. And a common problem in modern-day Judaism is that, when it comes to the Torah; its stories, laws and customs, we seem to only know bits and pieces. “And all flesh perished that ...

Parshat Berieshit In High school me and my friends always had the one kid we would blame for everything. Even if we knew we were wrong we would always jokingly say “J.E did it”, he would acknowledge it as funny and show his indifference in the joke. Whether we are 16 in high school, twenty-one in college or sixty with grand children, the blame game has been in existence since the beginning of time. It’s amazing that it’s been around so long; maybe because the rules are simple, you’re never wrong. We read the Torah over and over in order to know HaShems will to the fullest, but also to improve ourselves. We read these portions every week and yet we must realize by human tendency that sometimes it’s more important to focus on the matter at hand and not the whole picture. We focus in on portions, week in and week out to learn with quality and not quantity. The more and more one reads the verses, there are always more lessons to learn and uncover in the Torah, but it is our goal to make t...

Parshat Nitzavim-Vayelech After a very long journey Moshe Rabeinu has fulfilled his mission of taking the Jews to the border of Israel. The children of Israel will partake on an adventure into the land of Israel without their leader to guide them. As one of the many final words of strength given over by Moshe he leaves us with a frighteningly appropriate verse for the time of year we are in… " Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid and do not be broken before them, for HaShem, you G-d—it is He Who goes with you, He will not loosen His hold on you not will he forsake you.(31:6)" As we make our way into the world every single day we must constantly say to ourselves "be strong, be courageous". When we feel like misplaced Jews in a foreign land we must say "be strong, be courageous", when we run errands for our mothers and we want to freak out we must remember "be strong, be courageous". We must pick our head up high and realize that HaSh...

Parshat Shoftim On Monday August 17th, 2009 I decided to do something that most consider crazy and foolish; I jumped out of a plane (with a parachute of course). In my life I have never felt a stronger and more exhilarating feeling than being 10,000 feet in the air. Falling at 120 mph, I thought I might wake up in my bed, dreaming. In Judaism, we are not supposed to place ourselves in dangerous situations in vain, so I decided to meditate on what life lessons I could derive from this experience and how it might coincide with this week’s parsha. I learned many things from skydiving, but one thing flew right into my mind, (no pun intended). When looking down at the Jersey coast line, I thought to myself, “Humans are crazy! We just never feel settled! We are always looking for things that we believe will bring us more happiness and fulfillment.” “You shall be wholehearted with HaShem your G-d (18:13)." At first glance, one might say, “Become one with G-d? Me? G-d is so big!” Some mig...

Parshat Re’eh It is in fact the truth that the cultural norm forces us to live in a completely judgmental society. We may see people of different skin color, different life styles, different financial situations, different clothing and different interests, and to many people who do not resemble their comfortable life style, those people are considered weird and sometimes “crazy”. We all have different Ideas of what we want in life. But sometimes we feel that we want what others may have in life. We sometimes watch people walking in the streets and we envy them. We envy them for their looks for their talent for their friends or for their knowledge. Sometimes we stay in this pursuit for something that is not ours to receive. For an example I want to be like Michael Phelps , but I know that I G-d has not given me the ability to swim the way can. I am not a… how you say, “Water baby”? In this week’s Parsha HaShem commands the Jewish peop...