Parashat Shabbat VaYigash Readings and Video Comme...

Vayigash Genesis 44:18 – 47:27; Ezechiel 37:15-28 The Temple Institute Jerusalem Rabbi Chaim Richman says: The seismic shocks, the tectonic rumblings, the pulsating magnetic fields could all be felt from one end of creation to the next when Yehudah drew near to Yosef in their battle for custody of Binyamin. Neither brother was willing to abandon Binyamin and that’s what G-d wanted to know! When Yosef revealed...

Parashat Miketz Readings and Hanukkah Video Commen...

Hallel; Genesis 41:1 – 44:17, Numbers 7:24-35; Zecharia 2:14 – 4:7 Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel “The story of Yosef’s descent into the darkness of Egypt and his rise to leadership coincides each year with the eight day festival of Chanukah. They likewise share the same deep lesson: All of life’s seemingly chaotic randomness is, in truth, directed by...

Parashat Shabbat Vayeshev Readings and Video Comme...

Genesis 37:1 – 40:23; Amos 2:6 – 3:8 Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel “Have you ever felt utterly and completely alone? Yosef must have. He was separated from his loving father and his brothers wanted to kill him. Ultimately he was thrown in a pit filled with scorpions and snakes and then sold to some passing Ishmaelites, who in turn sold him into slavery. Yet we’re...

Parashat Shabbat Vayishlach Readings and Video Com...

Genesis 32:4–36:43; Obadiah 1:1-21 Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem, Israel “Yaakov avinu’s (our forefather Jacob’s) midnight encounter with a mysterious angel: Who was this angel, what was his purpose, and by what name was he known? Yaakov overcomes the angel, and by doing so gains insight into all these questions. He also acquires for himself a new name, a new identity,...

Parashat Shabbat VaYetze Readings and Video Commen...

Genesis 28:10–32:3; Hosea 11:7–12:12 Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Insitute, Jerusalem: “Avraham saw his appointed meeting place with G-d as a distant and foreboding mountain, (Mount Moriah, Israel), and Yitzchak envisioned the Holy Temple to be a field, accessible and alive. But it was Yaakov who understood the Holy Temple to be a home, a nurturing, loving center in which G-d and all mankind...

Parashat Shabbat Toldoth Readings and Video Commen...

Genesis 25:19–28:9; 1. Samuel 20:18-42 Video Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem: “The classic tale of deception and intrigue. But who is deceiving who? and who is really being fooled? Ya’akov dons precious garments and goat skins, but by doing so is he deceiving his father Yitzchak, or is he opening Yitzchak’s eyes for the first time to a lifetime of deception he has...

Parashat Shabbat Chaye Sarah Readings and Video Co...

Genesis 23:1–25:18; 1 Kings 1:1-31 Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem: “The life of Sara teaches us that through their deeds the righteous live on even after their bodies are interred in the ground. The first person to be mourned, wept for and eulogized in Torah, Sara’s death and burial in the Machpelah cave of Hevron established Israel’s permanent presence in the land...

Parashat Shabbat Vayera Readings and Video Commant...

Genesis 18:1-22:24; 2 Kings 4:1-37 Video Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem: °Every newborn baby is a miracle. Yet the birth of Yitzchak, (Isaac), defied all the rules of reason and biology. Rather than bow their heads in awe of the enormity of the miracle that G-d wrought, the pundits and gadflies of the day cast doubt upon the veracity of Yitzchak’s origins. Fast-forward to today,...

Parashat Shabbat LECH LECHA – Readings and V...

Genesis 12:1–17:27; Isaiah 40:27–41:16 Video Commentary by Rabbi Chaim Richman, The Temple Institute, Jerusalem: °And the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those...

Shabbat NOACH also NOAH Readings and Video Comment...

Hallel; Paraschat: Genesis 6:9 – 11:32 + Maftir: Numbers 28:9-15 Haftara: because of Rosch Chodesch Isaiah 66 (normaly 54:1-10) In this epic teaching of the opening two parashot of the book of Genesis, B’reishith and Noach, Rabbi Richman reveals what went wrong with a world so perfectly created that G-d Himself declared “It was very good,” and how that world, within a span of ten generations descended...