Women on the Weekly Torah Portion

A woman must cultivate a relationship with her Creator and use her mind to its fullest capacity. Only then, asserts the Akeidat Yitzchak, can a woman fulfill her second role as Chava, 'mother of all life', a role which crowns the role of isha.

What is the mystery of the spiritual qualities represented by these two sisters? What was the secret cosmic schism that would span centuries of history?

I know what she wants; she wants me to nurse her, she wants me to kiss her and comfort her...It's like her way of "checking in" to make sure that I'm still there and that I love her...

A man with tens of millions, the owner of several homes around the world and a private jet, related wistfully of a colleague who built his own landing strip...

What is the key to graciously accepting blessings in life while not growing callous because of them? Rabbi Schneur Zalman offers the answer, through a study of the words of Jacob, the archetypal beneficiary.

Imagine if we, as busy women, were able to take a half an hour out of our day and just sit and relax, completely guilt free. And yet, for eight straight days this is exactly what we are commanded to do...

Nancy called my father, complaining that the school van never came to pick up her kids. It didn't take long for my father to realize what I had done...

When Jacob was about to die, he called his twelve sons to his side. They gathered around him, and the twelve individuals became one unified soul . . .

In an age of instant messaging, instant coffee and instant soup, how long would you wait for a return on a favor before you wrote it off? Patience may be considered a virtue but for many, we are too impatient to be that virtuous...

As the mother of young children, the peaks and valleys of parenting make it easy to lose perspective. It will be years before I will see the fruits of my labor...

I appreciated the empowering message of The Secret, but I also had some questions. Firstly, is “the universe” a new-age, neutral-sounding pseudo-name for G‑d . . . ?

Determining right from wrong is something that we are constantly challenged with throughout our lives. Yet nothing is harder to face and acknowledge than when the "wrong" is happening in our own homes...

You could take the Jew out of Egypt, but could you take Egypt out of the Jew? It was Moses’ job to facilitate this transition. One therapeutic technique that he used at G‑d’s behest was orchestrating the ten plagues . . .

The very concept of Egypt denotes limitation, a sense of entrapment, blockage and slavery. And we have a directive to escape this reality every day. We don't need to physically live in the land of Egypt under Pharaoh's rule to feel enslaved...

The Jewish nation seems small and weak, but this is actually the key to our greatness. It allows us to reflect G‑d’s quintessential light to the world.

Do we dismiss our child's issues as insignificant? Do we reassure him that this "little" incident will pass, without validating what he is experiencing, in this moment?

When confronted with pain, we have three choices...

A preemptory dose of pain can bring a lot of long-term pleasure. This pain/pleasure principle played itself out vividly in the life of Miriam and her soul-sisters...

“My children are constantly fighting with each other,” laments Susan, a mother of three. “Will there ever be peace in my home?”

Torah does not support asceticism, the closed walls of a monastery and a life apart from the bones of the body. We are asked to eat the cookie—or kasha—but to ever remain the master of that act . . .