Vaera 5775

January 16, 2015 by Rabbi Yaakov Grunewald

The Sidra begins with a declaration by the Almighty to Moses that he had revealed Himself to the Patriarchs by the name El Shaddai, but not by the name of YKWK (K Stands for H). This statement is problematic and two questions arise from it. The first one is: What is the difference between the […]

Va’era 5774

February 28, 2014 by Rabbi Yaakov Grunewald

All the Jewish commentators regard the first passage of this Sidra as a direct continuation of the previous Sidra of SH’MOT. It contains Hashem’s reply to Moshe’s angry complaint that He had not saved the Israelites and had, in fact, made their suffering even harder to bear. Moshe’s exact words were: “Why have you been […]

Ve’era 5773

January 8, 2013 by Rabbi Yaakov Grunewald

My question is: Why doesn’t the new Sidra begin with a new chapter, instead of beginning at chapter 6 verse 2? The answer is that the chapter divisions were introduced into the Bible by Stephen Langton, an archbishop of Canterbury in 1227, whereas our Rabbis divided the Torah into Sedarim much earlier. The divisions […]