Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vayera (Genesis 18:1-22:24) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “And it came to pass…that God tested Abraham, saying to him, ‘Abraham,’ to which he responded, ‘Here I am!’ And He said, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, offering him there …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Lech Lecha (Genesis 12:1-17:27) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Now I know that you are a beautiful woman, when the Egyptians will see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me, while they will keep you alive. Please say that you are my sister, so …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Noach (Genesis 6:9-11:32) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech” (Gen. 11:7). What is the connection between Adam’s existential state of aloneness and the tragic social isolation which results from the Tower of Babel, when one universal language …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Bereishit (Genesis 1:1-6:8) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “And these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.” (Gen. 2:4). Imagine, for a moment, a world conducted according to strict Divine justice: punishment …
Shabbat Shalom: Chol Hamoed Sukkot By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – This magnificent three-week festival period – Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot – may be viewed and experienced in two dimensions simultaneously; the universalist, nationalist dimension, and the particularistic, individual/family dimension. Rosh Hashanah is the day on which the world was born, when the …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Haazinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – The very joyous and ritually rich festival of Sukkot comes at the heels of Yom Kippur, the Day of Forgiveness and Purity. Now that, hopefully, we have been forgiven for our transgressions, we begin afresh with a clean slate. It is certainly …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Vayelech (Deuteronomy 30:1-31:30)/ Yom Kippur By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Now, therefore write this song for you, and teach it to the People of Israel…” (Deuteronomy 31:19). Is Yom Kippur a happy day or a sad day? Many associate the Day of Atonement with solemnity and trepidation. Indeed, according to …
This week’s “Shabbat Shalom” has been sponsoredby the Charif Family of Sydney Australia in memory of Harry Sher (Hillel ben Chona)whose 24th Yartzheit is on 2 Tishrei, 5782 Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Nitzavim (Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “Not with you alone do I establish this covenant and this oath, but with those …
Parshat Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “You must then make the following declaration before the Lord your God: “I have removed all the sacred portions from my house. I have given the appropriate ones to the Levite and to the orphan and widow, following all the commandments …
Parshat Ki Tetze (Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “If a man has a wayward and rebellious child, who does not listen to the voice of his father and the voice of his mother, and they warn and flog him, but he still does not obey them; then his parents …
This week’s “Shabbat Shalom” is dedicated in celebration ofLeia Elison’s 4th Birthday— 2 Elulby her loving grandparentsIan and Bernice Charif of Sydney, Australia Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “When a matter shall arise for you too wondrous for judgment, whether it be capital, civil, or ritual, you shall …
Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Reeh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17) By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Efrat, Israel – “But the place which the Lord your God shall choose from among all of your tribes to place His Name there, for His dwelling place, shall you seek and shall you come there. And you shall bring there your whole burnt offerings …
