"BUYING LAND/HOMES IN ISRAEL"

Avraham's "elaborate" and prolonged give-and-take to acquire Chevron has important eternal and practical messages, especially for the many New-Yorkers recently considering buying homes in Israel!

Parashat Hashavua: 137 and the Power of Uncertainty

What to Look for in a Spouse

Parashat Hashavua: Tanach is One Book Made of Pieces that Must Be Connected

How Much May I Charge?

CHAYEI SARAH

The Ever-Flowing Spring of Kindness of the Patriarch Abraham

WHAT IS ISRAEL WORTH?

Avraham has now finished his “10 Tests.” After the traumas of being thrown into a fiery furnace, leaving his family & his homeland, fighting a war to free his nephew, circumcising himself (at age 99!), & almost sacrificing his beloved Yitzchak at the Akeida, Avraham certainly deserves a well-earned rest.

CHAYEI SARAH

In truth, our mother Sarah, like many other mothers past and present in Jewish life, has not quite received her due. Rashi, quoting Midrash in describing Sarah’s life, states that all the years of Sarah’s life were “for good.” He must mean “for good” in a spiritual and holy sense, for in her physical worldly life there was little good that she experienced.

Abraham: A Life of Faith

Sarah Lives On

This week’s parsha records for us the passing of our father and mother, of Avraham and Sarah. The Torah notes these sad events without any undue display of emotion or even of great sadness. The Torah’s view of life is that death is inevitable and that death does not end the influence of life – in fact, it does not end life itself.

Was Rivka Really 3 Years Old When She Married Yitzchak?

The Kindness of Strangers

The doing of acts of kindness – which is in turn derived from the understanding that human beings are made in the image of God. Civility itself may be seen as part of Chessed.

Sarah's Life

One could hardly conclude that she had a so-called good life.Yet, we find this to be the pattern in the experiences of all our forefathers and mothers.

Land of Israel: G-d-Given Right or Legal Right?

Translated by Hillel Fendel

The Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel by virtue of the Divine promise – but it is incumbent upon us, the People of Israel, to walk in the path of our Patriarch Abraham and actualize this right and ownership.

The Israeli Conquest of Hevron and the Machpelah Cave, 1967

In honor of Parashat Chaye Sarah, which recounts the story of the Patriarch Abraham's purchase of the Machpelah Cave in Hebron

Never Give Up, Never Give In

I suggest that these 3 words – “sh'nay chaye Sara” - can have another meaning. They can be translated as "the two lives of Sara!"

Why Is It So Hard To Be Good?

If being close to God is the ultimate pleasure. Why did He make it so difficult?

'Let us go up and possess the land'

Abraham's negotiations in Hevron are a lesson for the future.

From Slave to Somebody