by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Feb 13, 2026 | Lifeline
Our reading this week begins, “And these are the judgments that you shall place before them” [21:1]. Rashi comments that a statement beginning “these…” rejects or supplants that which came before it, whereas “and these” means...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jan 23, 2026 | Lifeline
This week, Moshe comes before Pharaoh to warn him of the coming Tenth and Final Plague: So says G-d: at roughly midnight, I will go though Egypt…and every firstborn will die…” [11:4] Moshe told Pharaoh that at “roughly” midnight—“Ka”-chatzos Halaylah—G-d will go...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jan 16, 2026 | Lifeline
Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky zt”l says something on this week’s reading that could have been drawn from current events, though his twelfth yahrtzeit will be next month on the Jewish calendar. In this week’s reading, Moshe and Aharon come before Pharoah, to...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Dec 26, 2025 | Lifeline
This week’s reading begins, “And Yehuda approached him,” [44:18] confronting Pharoah’s viceroy, his brother Yosef, on behalf of their brother Benyamin. Rashi says he now spoke harshly, with sharp words. My teacher, Rav Asher Rubenstein...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Dec 19, 2025 | Lifeline
Because of the way the Jewish calendar is built, and the Torah readings are laid out, our reading this week is almost always read on Chanukah—in 17 out of the 19-year cycle. We read this portion, about the redemption of Yosef from prison, during the holiday, and in...
