Will is the initiator and the energy that underpins a choice and powers its conversion to action. Terumah 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2015 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:15 _________________________________ Power is the way we experience energy. When electricity provides us with power, we experience its energy. We experience the energy of others when we feel the power of their personalities. When we experience G-d’s power in our lives, we feel His energy. The most potent energy we can experience is when we feel the power of another’s will. Simply, the term willpower, connotes ..

Our true enemy is not any other religion especially not a monotheistic one. Our true enemy is a harder one to combat for it has infiltrated into the core of our communities. Bo 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, What the Midrash Means Series - 1:14 _________________________________   The Charlie Hebdo cartoon making fun of Muhammad is nothing compared to Moshe’s attack on the Egyptian deity of his time. G-d instructs Moshe to publicly slaughter large numbers of lambs, the Egyptian god. He is instructed to do so for the very purpose of mocking Egyptian beliefs in the lamb’s supe..

The right to welcome in the new must be earned by the courage to challenge the old. Shemos 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2015 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:13 _________________________________   Context Notice a glaring omission in the Parsha: In setting up Moshe’s confrontation with the king of Egypt, Hashem clearly includes the zekeinim (elders) in the Jewish delegation (Shemot 3:18). However when the meeting actually happens, the zekeinim are conspicuously excluded from mention. There must be a relevant lesson in this, what is it? Our Midrash explores. Midrash ..

It is in the daily economic activity of earning a living that we come face-to-face with G-d and experience miracle first hand. Vayechi 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2014 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:12 _________________________________ Context Sometimes the parsha  in which a Midrash appears forms its context. But at other times an event in ones life provides the context for understanding a Midrash. Often the event is fleeting or even trivial, until it is enriched by a flash of wisdom from a Midrash. This was the case this week when my eye was caught by an ..

Going back to source, we discover a level of aliveness that transports us forward into the most progressive and modern places we can get without adulterating the essence of who we are and what we stand for. Vayigash 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2014 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:11 ____________________________ Context Pharoh instructs Yoseif and his brothers to go back to Canaan and bring their father and his household to Egypt where, thanks to Yoseif’s strategies, there is no famine. He instructs them to take government carriages and use them to transport their father and his..

Hishtadlut: Invest or Gamble? You increase your odds by buying two lottery tickets, you do not increase your odds nor reduce your risk if you double your investment in the same instrument. אשרי הגבר אשר שם ה' מבטחו (תהילים מ׳) Fortunate is a man who sees Hashem as his security (Psalms 40). Mikeitz 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2014 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:10  _____________________ Context You are a renowned consultant and financial manager. A threatened boss has you arrested, tried and imprisoned on a serious trumped-up charge. Your legal remedies are exhauste..

Often we feel critical of people who seek recognition for the kindness they do. But the Torah’s view of the subject is counter-intuitive and surprising. עולם חסד יבנה (תהילים פ"ט) A universe can be constructed from acts of kindness (Psalms 89)  Vayeishev 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2014 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:9 ____________________________ Context Yoseif’s brothers decide that his repetitive attempts to alienate them from their father and displace them as spiritual heirs to their father’s legacy, was a capital offense. Just before they execute him, Reuvein, th..

לתת לפתאים ערמה (משלי א׳ ד׳)   To provide the naive with slyness Vayishlach 5775 © Rabbi David Lapin, 2014 What the Midrash Means Series - 1:8 ____________________________ Context On his journey home, Yaacov gets news that his twin brother Eisav has set out to meet him with a large and aggressive army. Yaacov fears that despite G-d’s promise of protection in the previous parsha, he might not have lived up to G-d’s expectations while he was living with Lavan, and the promise may therefore not be valid any more. In addition to praying for his and his large family’s safety, ..