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PARSHA POSTS: VAYESHEV

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Yael Chaya Miriam Gray

Jan 4, 2026, 4:49 AM

“They Threw Him In The Pit . . . And Sat Down To Eat Bread” While He Screamed

The Torah does not ask anyone to call what happened to Yosef “righteous.” The Torah records it with a kind of cold precision that all but dares the reader to flinch. They strip him. They throw him into a pit. “וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ...

Raheli Baratz Rix

Jan 2, 2026, 11:02 AM

The Coat of Many Colors, The Senator, and The Professor: A Weekly Torah Portion as a Guide to Modern Auto-Antisemitism

There's something oddly comforting about "Parshat Vayeshev" it reminds us we've been excellent at one thing for millennia: fighting ourselves in the name of morality, justice, and truth. Long before X, before academia, before ethics committees, there were brothers,...

Dec 20, 2025, 5:51 AM

When God Throws the Ball Back at You: Vayeshev 5786

If you were wrongly imprisoned. you would do everything to clear your name and win your freedom. Yet, according to the Midrash Tanchuma, Joseph erred in asking the wine butler to mention him to Pharaoh in hopes of gaining...

Dec 15, 2025, 11:54 PM

From Settlement to Sanctuary: Israel’s Call to Illuminate the World

“This is none other than the House of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

In the rolling hills of Canaan, after decades of trials, exile from his homeland, deceit at the hands of Laban, the wrenching loss of Rachel, and reconciliation with Esau, Jacob yearned for peace. He had built his family, weathered...

Dec 15, 2025, 11:33 PM

The Meaning of Joseph’s Coat- Vayeishev 5785

I, like many of us, have a few items of clothing which are important to me and have a lot of history. When I have the (nowadays, rare) occasion to wear my tuxedo, I wear with it my grandfather’s...

Kenny Schiowitz

Dec 15, 2025, 8:47 AM

The Confidence for Courage in Horrifying Times

The tragedy of the Sale of Yosef (that we read on this past Shabbos) has long been seen as a symbol of the most significant challenge of the Jewish Family: maintaining our unity and loyalty to one another, despite...

Dec 14, 2025, 5:34 PM

The Ethics of communication

The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred. (Alan Mulally) The Cost of Miscommunication In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell describes a series of air accidents involving Korean Air in the 1980s and 1990s. The...

Alexander I. Poltorak

Dec 14, 2025, 9:59 AM

G‑d Who Dreams

Divine Dreams - Generated by ChatGPT 5.1

The last three Torah portions—Vayetze, Vayeshev, and Miketz—are saturated with dreams. What if the whole universe is one continuous dream of the Creator? Does G-d dream us into existence? I think so. From Plotinus to Schrödinger The idea that the universe...

Moshe-Mordechai van Zuiden

Dec 13, 2025, 11:50 PM

Where is it written in the Torah to be normal?

Part of Israeli culture Thirty years ago, I was new in the country. I crossed at a pedestrian crossing, and a sports car had to brake for me. The driver shouted through the open window, ‘Are you normal?’ I replied,...

Dec 13, 2025, 4:08 PM

Existential Lessons of Vayeshev

Parashah Vayeshev There are moments in life when, outwardly, everything appears ordered. Conflicts seem resolved, decisions taken, paths closed. One believes that, at last, it is possible to arrive and rest. Yet it is precisely there that, more often than not,...

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