Parshah Columnists

Why should the first oil of the third pressing have priority for the kindling of the menorah over the second oil of the first pressing?

Sure, we can erect a structure. That's the easy part. The question is: will G-d see fit to live there?

Why was G‑d’s voice confined to the Sanctuary?

Perhaps it’s one of those forbidden questions. Perhaps it just breaks too many assumptions. But we’ll ask it anyway: Have the properties of light changed over the centuries? Has the power of gravity weakened with time? Has matter become less material? When you turn it over a few times and rub it between your fingers, everything in our world turns out to contain something of the infinite . . .

Dina is sixteen years old, and it seems like everyone in her life is always trying to change her.

"There are seventy facets of the Torah" say the Talmud. Here are three perspectives on the Menorah in the Holy Temple

A lesson from the seven-branched menorah: You don’t have to be a carbon copy of somebody else to be a good Jew. The critical issue is, are you kindled?

As anyone who has ever battled a coal barbeque or labored to start a campfire without fire-starters or kerosene would attest, there is more to kindling than just holding a match to the fuel

I am now raising my grandchildren's parents

Ironically, the smaller the splash, the higher the rating that the diver receives

Both parents offered the same advice, with the same degree of sincerity. But as the years went by, there was a change: the first child heard exhaustion in their voices, while the second child heard restraint

We "raise" our children, "climb" the ladders of our careers, "rise" to life's occasions, think "highly" of people we admire, "aspire" to high ideals, regard "heaven" as representative of all that is good and "lofty". Why all this uppity talk?

“The flame is not yours,” said the Rebbe, “you are just its carrier. The lamp is ready to be lit—you need only touch it with the flame.” “Should I grab him by the throat?” asked the chassid. “By the throat, no,” replied the rebbe. “By the lapels, yes.”