Genesis, the Book of

A virtuous person thinks in terms of duties and responsibilities. What is my role? What is my obligation? But a leader thinks in terms of needs. What are the needs of this person? This organization? This population?

It is natural to become enveloped by the minutiae of our challenges. Awareness of the greater picture of which we are all a part, however, is essential.

We share a communal identity and destiny, where we celebrate and mourn as one.

The Torah concludes the book of Genesis with the death of Joseph and the fact that he was interned - actually placed in the Nile - in Egypt. Yet we are enjoined by Torah to conclude a Torah subject on a positive note?! The answer sheds new light on both t...

G‑d created Adam and Eve unclothed, and they walked around the Garden of Eden . . . naked. If public nudity was fine with G‑d, why does the Torah tell us to be modest, to cover up, to subdue our natural allure? What changed?

We can put up with quite a lot when we know there’s an end to it.

Jews don’t glorify death, even though we believe that there is glory after death. Instead, Jews celebrate life. So, long after someone dies, we continue to celebrate his or her life. Even the Torah’s description of death can be viewed as a description of ...

Why didn’t Jacob take the time to bury his beloved wife in the Cave of Machpelah?

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...