Rebecca’s Mother
Question: What is the name of the Rivka (Rebecca) the Matriarch's mother? Answer: There is a Medrash Agada that writes that Devorah (or Deborah, Rebecca's wet-nurse) was Rivka's mother. The Medrash...
View ArticleDating Tips
Question: Does the Torah offer any guidelines or advice on choosing or finding a suitable partner? Answer: Abraham sends his servant Eliezer to find a wife for his son Issac (Genesis Ch 24). The first...
View ArticleWhy is it called “Toldos” and not “Yitzchak”?
Question: If the portion of Noach begins "These are the children of Noach..." and the portion is then named Noach, why is this weeks portion which begins "These are the children of Yitzchak..." not...
View ArticleIsaac vs. Rebecca
Question: Who was greater - Isaac or Rebecca, and why? Answer: Hi! It's really not for me, or anyone, to judge who is greater. Only G-d knows the tests that people go through and how difficult they...
View ArticleRabbi Avraham Danzig
Question: Who was Rabbi Avraham Danzig? Answer: Rabbi Avraham Danzig was born in Danzig, Poland (which today is known as Gdansk). He studied in Prague. It appears that he lived in Vilna for most of his...
View ArticleHow Could Jacob Steal the Blessings?
Question: What is the rational for the means justifying the ends with regard to Jacob stealing Esau's blessing from their father Isaac. Why does the conspiracy between Jacob and Rebekah toward Isaac,...
View ArticleImportance of the First Born
Question: What is the importance of the first born? Answer: The first born have been important since earliest times; Abel sacrificed the first born of his flock (Gen.4:4), G-d smote the Egyptian first...
View ArticleWhat does Esau’s blessing mean?
Question: What is is meant by the blessing Issac grants to Esau when he says, "The fat places of the earth can still be your dwelling, and [you can still have] the dew of heaven." Answer: Jacob was...
View ArticlePraying for the Impossible
Question: Having read the touching story of Abraham and Sarah's, faith in G-d's promise of a child, I must ask you: Can a woman above fifty years old, with a complete hysterectomy, who never gave...
View ArticleJacob’s fight with the Angel
Question: All of these questions bothered me for years. I tried looking in the commentaries with no great success... Answer: I think your questions are wonderful, and I have struggled with (some of)...
View ArticleJacob and Israel
Question: After Abraham's and Sarah's names were changed from "Abram" and "Sarai" to "Abraham" and "Sarah", their old names are never used again in the Bible or in our literature. However, When Jacob's...
View ArticleThe History of Potato Latkes
Question: What is the history behind the custom of eating Potato Latkes [pancakes] on Chanuka? Were potatoes eaten by the Jews of the second Temple era? Answer: Potatoes latkes [pancakes] are not...
View ArticleChanukah Gelt
Question: I know that the Dreidel game originated with children pretending to play with their spinning top, so the Greeks wouldn't know that the adults inside were learning Torah. But, why do we give...
View ArticleBlind Faith vs. Trust
Question: I would like to know the difference between blind faith and trusting in Gd to help us during a difficult season. Is this like just giving over our troubles knowing Gd will grant the prayer?...
View ArticleG-d in the Burning Bush
Question: How did Moses know that God Is God at the burning bush? G-d is beyond description, has no form and defies human classification. Why didn't Moses ask for some identification? Answer: I suspect...
View ArticleDid the Jews Build the Pyramids?
Question: On Passover when we read that the Egyptians forced us to do back-breaking work isn't there the implication that the work was building the Egyptian pyramids? Not simply Pithom and Ramses? It...
View ArticlePlague of Darkness
Question: I read Rabbi Kirshblums article (questions to ponder) where he writes about 2,400,000 jews dying during the plague of darkness. I cant find this in the bible. Please help me to understand why...
View ArticlePharoah’s Hardened Heart and Free Will
Question: Why did G-d harden Pharaoh's heart? Are we to take this literally--that G-d effectively cancelled Pharaoh's free will and made him nothing more than a puppet in the exodus of our people. Or,...
View ArticleHow does a rationalist believe in miracles?
Question: I have trouble believing in miracles. How can a rationalist believe that food fell from the sky and fed the Jewish people in the desert? That the red sea split? That frogs fell out of the...
View ArticleOne Huge Frog
Question: I once heard a Midrash that said that the plague of frogs in Egypt began with one huge frog. Can you tell me exactly how big this frog was according to the Midrash? Was it as big as a fully...
View Article