“Shalom,” our word for wholeness, is the ultimate goal of a life lived with individuation. Through it, a person comes to ...

Delve into Parshat Vayeshev, where we uncover the story of Jacob, a symbol of righteousness and humility in the Torah.

In Vayishlach, this week’s Torah portion, the third patriarch’s name gets changed during a famous encounter. Or does it?

This week’s Torah portion is about mass fear, or better put, how to stave off mass fear. Mass fear makes people, and groups of people, think, say, and do irrational and destructive things. You ...

Yiddish World Blog ties weekly Torah portion with works of Yiddish writers For last week’s portion, the blog matches the story of Jacob’s daughter Dina with a poem about her by the poet Itsik Manger.

This is an adaptation of Looking Forward, a weekly email from our editor-in-chief sent on Friday afternoons. Sign up here to get the Forward’s free newsletters delivered to your inbox. I was thrilled ...

Our Torah portion, Emor, has the most detailed list in the Torah of the Jewish Festivals and other Holy Days. This Torah portion gives us the opportunity not only to study what the various holidays ...

This week’s Torah portion, Va-yakhel, is the first of two Torah portions concerned with the building of the Mishkan. In next week’s portion, Pekudei, we find the actual dedication of the Mishkan. I ...

1. This week’s Torah portion is Lech Lecha, the third in the book of Genesis, following Bereishit and Noach. It can be said that we are beginning for a third time. The first two beginnings had ...

Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its ...

The first word in our portion re’eh is one of the most powerful terms found in the Torah. In fact, God is described as a ro’eh on three different levels. The first time the word is found in the Torah, ...

Most people think the Bar Mitzvah is a religious ceremony in which the 13-year-old assumes adult responsibilities according to Jewish law and tradition. It is. But it is also an opportunity to push ...