Vayigash: Monotheism Even in Ancient Egypt!

by Rav Yosef Carmel, translated by Hillel Fendel

Before Yaakov Avinu (Patriarch Jacob) leaves the Holy Land for the last time and descends to Egypt with his family, G-d appears to him "in the visions of the night [and says to him]: Yaakov, Yaakov… I am the Lord, the G-d of your father; do not fear to descend to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. I will descend with you to Egypt, and I will certainly raise you up, and Yosef will place his hand on your eyes" (B'reshit 46,2-4).

The final phrase in that verse is somewhat enigmatic, and has been explained in various ways.

Light from Within: An Ordinary Jew Who Killed a Terrorist

by Ronit Segev

The first English-language interview with Yoram Skolnik since his release from prison nearly 22 years ago. 

His pure faith overcame a darkness that drives many to despair.

JUDEAN HILLS - It was Hanukkah. Which year, he can't remember - it was the late nineties in Israel - but the place he remembers all too well, and day after day he would pray that G-d would take him out of there and that some Hanukkah, some year, he would be able to rejoin his wife and little girl and light candles together, sing Hallel, play dreidel games, and enjoy latkes. But for now, thick walls separated them from him, and the people surrounding him were inmates and guards. He had been sentenced to Life.

Yoram Skolnik had requested a hanukkiyah in order to fulfill the mitzvah of the holiday, but prison officials had refused. In Hebrew, there is a word for the reason: staam. A reason that is no reason. Caprice. Officially, they said they feared he might make a bomb out of the candles. A bomb? Come on. The assertion was ridiculous and everyone knew it, but time after time the authorities wielded their power against religious inmates, particularly this one. They told him to build a hannukiyah by hollowing out potatoes, filling them with vegetable oil, and using scraps of linen as wicks. Yoram was incredulous and angry. This was Israel, the land of the Jews! And he'd have to make a hanukkiyah as Jews were forced to in the camps in Poland?

Miketz: Yaakov Is the Fire & Yosef Is the Flame

By Rav Yossi Weitzen, translated by Hillel Fendel

The Midrash tells us that both Yosef – the main character in this week's Torah portion of Miketz – and his father Yaakov Avinu were great tzaddikim (righteous men), and that they were also similar in many other ways. For instance, they were both born circumcised; their mothers were both barren for a long while, and ended up both bearing two sons; they were both shepherds; their brother(s) sought to kill each of them; they were both blessed with ten blessings; they both left the Holy Land and went to Egypt; both were built up via a dream; their fathers-in-law were both blessed in their merit; they both helped end a famine (see below); they both died in Egypt; the bones of each were returned to the Holy Land. 

It is interesting to note that all the above likenesses have nothing to do with the respective characters of Yaakov and Yosef, but only to various things that G-d caused to happen to them. But let us ask: Is there also a similarity between the ways they responded to the various challenges they each faced? 

Q&A: How Do We Know There Is a G-d?

  

Q. How do we know there is a G-d?

Vayeshev: On the Light of Hanuka and Israeli Independence

by Rav Yosef Carmel, translated by Hillel Fendel

Are the Hanukah miracles of 2,000 years ago relevant to our generation? The answer is: Yes, more than ever before!

Why is that? Let us begin the explanation at the beginning – from the first book of the Pentateuch. When Yosef was sold into servitude, he was taken out of the Land of Israel and brought down to Egypt. We can say that this marked the beginning of the exile of the Jewish People. For after Yosef became viceroy of Egypt, his brothers "followed" him there, and ended up remaining there – they and their descendants – for over 230 years, until the miraculous Exodus. Yosef's descent to Egypt began the long torturous path of his people, and rendered them totally dependent on others.