People experience traumatic episodes with various physiological and psychological repercussions. Memories of some become relegated to a dark area of the subconscious never to re-appear again in one’s window of consciousness. Others, like those who went through the atrocities of the Shoah, are forever engraved in their consciousness. A third type emerges from time to time from the subconscious to one’s consciousness brought about by association with other thoughts.

One of mine resurfaced last week…

The people of the US are on the brink of civil discordance and anarchy which could quickly lead to civil war. There are many Blacks who would think nothing of fomenting a holocaust against the “privileged” Whites, and many Whites who would be happy to do so for the Blacks. But both sides would not hesitate to do so against the Jews who will be drawn into the strife because they are there.

In circumstances like these, it is every thinking person for himself. Once the genie of hate emerges from its bottle, there will be no way to return it to oblivion.

“She’ma Yisrael” is the most quoted verse in the Torah, having been recited hundreds of million times since its revelation at Mount Sinai. There are many ways to understand these six words:

Listen (hearken, be attentive) Yisrael, the Lord our God the Lord is one.

I would like to deal with two meanings: one of which has to do with our parasha – Vayechi.

It is a fundamental law of creation that HaShem does not coerce people into doing things, because free will is a basic component of humanity. Nevertheless, HaShem lets His will be known by creating situations which cause rational people to make requisite choices.

The sands of time for freedom of choice are running out.

Chanuka is essentially the holiday of Kohanim. The rebellion was started by the Kohanic family of Mattityayu, son of Yochnan the Kohen Gadol and ended with Kohanim restoring the Bet Hamikdash to its purity and to their divine service.

Kohanim more than any single group have played prominent roles in our history. Chazal say that the forefathers were Kohanim.

Yerushalayim – the very word resonates as a symphony in the authentic Jewish soul.

Yir’ah (fear of God) and Shalem (perfection) combine to form the name Yerushalayim; for these are the qualities which the city bestows upon those who love her and are faithful to her.

The real story behind President Trump’s recognition of Yerushalayim as Israel’s capital…

Much like a motion picture which is composed of thousands of individual frames passing before the viewer’s eye, life too consists of a series of individual time frames of 70 years (“The span of our life is 70 years or with strength 80 years” – Tehillim 90:10). And just as one cannot understand the plot of a movie from a fleeting glance, one cannot decipher HaShem’s intent in history from one- or two-time frames or even from a thousand years. Our parasha relates that Yosef found his brothers in the Valley of Dotan…

The weekly Torah readings are approaching the end of the patriarchal and matriarchal period, the founding fathers and mothers of our nation who are very much with us, due to the pivotal role they played in the future direction of the Jewish nation and world history.

This week’s essay came to my mind through four associations: Ya’akov’s impelled exit from his holy home and holy land; the appointment of a new director of Yad Vashem; the unbridled wedding of the Satmar Rebbe’s grandson clandestinely put together for thousands of Chassidim (with or without the knowledge of the mayor and police who need his friendship when elections come up), and the siyum of tractate Eruvin in the Daf haYomi.

Be forewarned that the end is not for the weak at heart.

Rivka suffered with her pregnancy and went to obtain advice at the yeshiva of Shem and his son Ever. There she was told that in her womb were twins who would become the forefathers of two opposing nations; two antithetical, contradictory cultures which were destined to navigate the course of history; and that the younger would surpass the older.

Question: Why did Rivka not turn to the greatest spiritual figure of her generation, her husband Yitzchak? And furthermore, how could Rivka act to divert the blessings to Ya’akov against her husband’s wishes?

If I were able to deliver a message to President Donald Trump, I would suggest the following:

Bow your head and thank the good Lord for terminating your presidency. In fact, this applies equally to Jared Kushner, Ambassador David Friedman, Avi Berkowitz and all the other Jews who contributed over the last four years to the security of Israel and to the enduring noble status of Yerushalayim, in view of what is brought down in the Talmud (tractate Chagiga 5a).

The Prophet Zecharia foresaw that, in the future, two funerals would be held in Jerusalem whose eulogies would be on a par with those of Yoshiyahu and Achav.

Since the destruction of the Second Temple, the City of Jerusalem has not known such impressive funerals as those of my brother, Rabbi Meir Kahane and of Yitzchak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel. Rabin was not an Achav and my brother was not a Yoshiyahu, but in their lives we can identify patterns resembling those of the two kings.