This week's parsha

Unless otherwise noted, "This week's Parsha" comprises articles taken from contributors to the Chabad.org website. We show the original author's name here, so that proper attribution is given. For the sake of brevity, footnotes cited in the original author's writings are omitted from this website. If you need to see the citations, please refer to the original articles on the Chabad.org website.

Accessible Judaism

Published: 29 January 2018 | Written by Mendel Kalmenson

After Steve Jobs died in 2011, I remember reading a one-line obituary in a mainstream media outlet. It read: “Steve Jobs put a powerful computer inside a phone and that phone into 120 million pockets.”

And it struck me then that, throughout history, the people who have left the greatest mark on the world, and who became household names, were not necessarily those who created life-changing inventions, but those who gave the public access to those innovations.

In At The Deep End

Published: 22 January 2018 | Written by Mordechai Wollenberg

In this week's Parshah the Red Sea splits and the children of Israel cross to safety.

G‑d tells Moses: "Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward..."

The Midrash tells us that as they stood at the shore of the sea, the people of Israel split into four factions.

The Gold of Egypt

Published: 15 January 2018 | Written by Elisha Greenbaum

"Speak to the Children of Israel, and they shall borrow from their neighbors gold and silver vessels" (Final instructions before the Exodus -- Exodus 11:2)

Did you follow the news stories last year about the Egyptian Law Professor who was initiating a suit against world Jewry before the International Court of Justice? He demanded the Jews return the gold and silver that their ancestors had taken with them on their way out.