Rabbi Avi Weiss, is an American open Orthodox ordained rabbi, author, teacher, lecturer, and activist who is the founder of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale in The Bronx, New York. He is the founder ...

Parshat Noach contained the story of humanities downfall, and eventual rebirth; not even ten generations from Noach had passed before the world sank once more to the precipice of utter calamity with ...

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We must stop to take deep breaths, to pray, and do acts of kindness. We can keep sending love and light to the captives. According to our sages, the meaning of lech lecha is to “go to yourself”– ...

In many ways, the Noah and creation stories are parallel, helping explain God’s exhortation to Abraham: “Lech lecha me’artzecha” (Go for yourself from your land; Genesis 12:1). *In both, water plays a ...

The day God pronounced two simple words — lech lecha — Abraham and Sarah’s lives changed forever. God instructs Abraham to leave his homeland, his birthplace and his father’s home, “to the land that I ...

Terach, Avraham’s (Abraham’s) father, is often viewed as an evil man and nothing more than an idol worshipper. A review of the literal text indicates otherwise. First of all, Terach’s son, Haran, dies ...

The Torah begins with the grand, expansive story of creation—of the world and of humanity. But in Parshat Lech Lecha, the focus narrows to one central figure: our Patriarch, Abraham. It is here that ...

From Yemenite Jews in Operation Magic Carpet to Soviet refuseniks, Ethiopian families, and Bnei Menashe from India, Isaiah’s vision has been realized in our own time. When God first spoke to Abraham, ...

In this week’s Parsha, Hashem tells Avraham to look at the stars. Hashem informs Avraham, “So too will be your offspring.” What does this promise mean that the Jewish people will be like stars? Rav ...

“You’re going to give four years of your life to the country and this job. When you leave, what do you want them to say about your time here?” This was the question outgoing Chief of Naval Operations, ...

Last Shabbat, Parashat Noach recorded the Flood. And as the flood-waters began to subside Noah sent forth the dove from the Ark, “and the dove did not find any resting-place for the sole of her foot, ...