Adin Even-Israel (Steinsaltz)

It is only natural for a person to automatically justify the practices to which he has grown accustomed.

The distinction between the permitted animals and the forbidden animals raises a question that has occupied many commentators.

Every person’s life consists of two different modes. One mode is characterized by ascents and descents, while the other is characterized by calm and tranquility, without major events or great excitement.

Before facing the trial of love for his own child, Abraham was forced to ask, “Where is my whole world? Where is my whole concept of justice? Where is my morality?” At the Akeidah, Abraham sacrifices not only his son’s body but his own soul.

Why should a person get up and leave – even if he is promised blessing and success – if there is seemingly no rhyme or reason for doing so? Nullifying the “why” is the challenge here, the true test of the trial of lech lecha.

Ascending in holiness is not a simple matter. It involves an intrinsic danger, to which Noah fell prey. When one is occupied with a world that is entirely holy, he lives in it alone, and he is liable to forget that there are other people that exist in the...

Genesis is preoccupied with fundamental questions, its narratives brimming with exemplary figures whose actions shape our lives today. Clearly, it would have been impossible to begin the Torah without them.

Far from home, Jacob now must struggle to maintain his inner spirituality.

Abraham and Isaac Isaac uncovers the wells that his father Abraham had dug, an act that appears to be a fundamental part of his divine service. The Torah recounts the episode as follows: Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of...