Bereshit

"The Sfat Emet (the saintly Gerrer Rebbe) explains that G-d did not immediately reveal to Avraham the location of Eretz Yisrael because 'that itself is an aspect of Eretz Yisrael.' That is, in order to reach the Land in which we can "see G-d's face" (see Ex. 34,23) and cleave to Him – one has to walk, one has to go. One must 'go out of himself,' out of his earthiness; he must leave his father's home and all of his material possessions, and nullify himself totally before G-d. The idea is to leave oneself, lekh lekha, and instead, 'go to the land that I will show you.' We are always in search of some kind of permanence in this world – but the truth is that we are temporary..."

The Torah does not tell us how Avraham (then, Avram) knew where to go: north, south, east, or west?

The end of parshas Noach teaches about the beginning of languages…

The greater a person is or believes he or she is, the smaller the room for error in one’s life decisions

This week's Torah portion of Noah takes us up to (and past) the birth of Avraham Avinu, in the year 1948 after Creation – and nary a word seems to be mentioned about the Land of Israel throughout these almost two millennia! Is this not very strange, considering that the Foundation Stone – Even HaShtiyah – from where the world was actually created, is located in the Land, on what later became the Temple Mount? The longed-for Garden of Eden, too, is located in our Holy Land. How could the Land play such a minor role in the first 2,000 years of human history?

Once upon a time, a man came to see a marriage counselor, and began to complain: "My wife is too passive and quiet. I do all the cooking and cleaning, and she barely helps out. And I even have to do all the talking – if I don't start a conversation, you'd be able to hear a pin drop in our house. I always have to initiate and start discussions. I can't go on this way!"...

The desired Garden of Eden is here in Yerushalayim..

The eternal connection between the Torah's final and first verses – in praise of Israel.