What’s Been Going On Summer camp has finished and things are winding down for the summer. Our kids had at Camp Gan Izzy over the past two weeks. They truly were the most fun-filled two weeks, filled with singing, dancing, learning and davening, water fights and shaving cream fights, swimming and sports, trips and adventures.
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What’s Been Going On It’s been a busy, fun-filled week at Chabad of Auckland with our Camp Gan Israel summer holiday programme in full swing. With one week down and next week still to go, it’s been an epic week of trips, bouncing on bouncy castles, strawberry picking at the farm, art projects, baking cookies
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“You shall cast into the Nile every boy who is born, but every daughter you shall make live.” (Shemot 1:22) At first glance, its would seem that Pharoah’s decree targeted only the infant boys born to Bnei Yisrael, but not the baby girls. If so, why was it necessary for Pharaoh to add and emphasise, “but
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“Yosef died at the age of one hundred and ten years, and and he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.” (Bereshis 50:26) When we conclude the public reading of any of the five books of the Torah, it is customary for the entire community to call out, “chazak chazak v’nischazek!” – “Be
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“He send Yehudah ahead of him to Yosef, to prepare Goshen in advance.” (Bereshis 46:28) Yaakov sent Yehudah to Egypt to establish a place of Torah study and education in Goshen before the rest of the family arrived. Why was it necessary for this institution of learning to be established by Yehudah, rather than by Yosef,
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“At the end of two years, it came to pass that Pharaoh was dreaming…” (Bereshis 41:1) The Egyptian exile came about through a series of dreams. Yosef’s brothers hated him because of his dreams, ultimately selling him as a slave. After changing hands several times, Yosef wound up in Egypt, where he was eventually jailed. In
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“Yosef dreamed a dream.” Bereshis 37:5 In Parshat Vayeshev we read about Yosef’s dreams, both of which foretold that his family would one day bow to him. In the first dream, Yosef and his brothers were represented by sheaves of wheat. Eleven sheaves – the brothers – bowed to Yosef’s single sheaf. In the second
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“Therefore the Bnei Yisrael may not eat the gid hanasheh, which is on the socket of the hip, until this day.” (Bereshis 32:33) In the middle of the night Yaakov encounters an angel of G-d, wrestles with him and wins. But the angel, who is Eisav’s spiritual source and advocate on high, wounds Yaakov’s sciatica nerve. In
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“He arrived at the place and overnighted there because the sun had set… He lay down at that place.” On his way to Charan, Yaakov stopped for the night and lay down to sleep at “the place” – precisely the spot where the Beis Hamikdash, our Holy Temple, would be built. According to the Midrash, the
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“He summoned his elder son Eisav and said to him, “…so that I may grant you my soul’s blessing before I die.” Beneath Eisav’s Surface Yitzchak was not entirely oblivious to Eisav’s unrefined character and conduct, yet he intended to bestow upon him the most powerful blessings. Surely, his desire to bless Eisav was not based
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