Eliyahu Safran

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Aug 10, 2022, 6:41 AM

No, You Don’t Have to Finish It All

It is not your responsibility to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it either - Pirkei Avot 2:16 What is our obligation to create sanctuary - refuge - for those whose pain is unimaginable to us? "Then...

Jul 25, 2022, 12:02 AM

Kashering and the Art of Living

Oye. Is there a better expression of what it means to exist in our current political and social moment? I once met a man who was a member of his local community board. He told me that he felt so dirtied...

Jun 13, 2022, 10:51 PM

To Teach; To Inspire – What Are We Graduating?

In Parshat Behaalotcha, the Torah speaks of the Kohen Gadol kindling, lighting the Menorah. Rather than the verb we most associate with the lighting of a menorah (l'hadlik), the Torah uses the verb behaalotcha. Rashi teaches that the verb behaalotcha is used to...

Mar 2, 2022, 8:00 PM

Saying Goodbye – The Challenge of an Honest Eulogy

If you have ever come away from a funeral service and thought to yourself, "Who was the rabbi talking about?" you might have some appreciation of the challenge facing a rabbi when he is called upon to deliver a...

Feb 23, 2022, 4:36 AM

Mesirus Nefesh – The Secret to Jewish Survival

We often hear athletes come off the court or playing filed and brag about having "left it all on the field" or having "given it all." If only they understood what that actually means, to "give it all." Jewish history...

Dec 5, 2021, 11:09 PM

Yaakov and the Fear of Galus

Have no fear of descending to Egypt...I shall descend with you to Egypt, and I shall also surely bring you up; and Yosef shall place his hands on your eyes. Bereishit 46:4 Despite God clearly telling him that he needn't fear...

Oct 25, 2021, 10:17 PM

If Not Now, When? On Old Age And…

Now Abraham was old, well on in years, and Hashem blessed Abraham with everything. Bereishit 24:1 Not long ago, another weekly began posting my parasha essays. When I was shown the publication, I realized they were using a photo of me from when...

Sep 13, 2021, 12:09 AM

To Remember. To Forget

Before Moshe departs from this world he prophetically shares with the Children of Israel how they will stray from the Torah; how they will turn their backs on God Who nurtured them throughout... One of the most striking verses...

Jul 26, 2021, 6:52 PM

Who’s the stranger

I'm a stranger in a strange land — Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter In Parshat Ekev, we are confronted with one of the most compelling — and counter-intuitive- obligations in all Torah. "You too must befriend the stranger,...

Jun 8, 2021, 2:03 AM

Stiff-necked, the soul of man

What will it take to convince us? What will it take to convince us that Aaron was chosen by God to serve as Kohen Gadol? Even after Korach's rebellion against Moshe and Aaron; even after the earth swallowed them and...

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About Me

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran is an educator, lecturer and author. He has devoted many years in the rabbinate, Jewish education, and as vice president of marketing and communications at OU Kosher. He resides in New York, while enjoying his long stays in Jerusalem. His highly acclaimed "Something Old, Something New - Pearls from the Torah" has been published by KTAV, July 2018.