Judaism teaches that G-d gives each of us what we need to fulfill our purpose, and “for whatever measure it is that G-d has given us, one should be extremely thankful.”

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It has been an extraordinary week, especially for those of us in the United States. Just 45 years after the 1964 Civil Rights act, we have a black President. I think that this is part and parcel of what has made the United States such a Medina Shel Chesed, kind host to its Jewish population, especially after the Holocaust. The United States was, after all, built by European refugees fleeing religious persecution. As such, their need to work together and avoid in-fighting between each others led to a Constitution extraordinarily cognizant of the human rights of minorities of whatever variety.

May G-d grant our new President continued recognition of the unique position of and dangers faced by our brethren in the Land of Israel, and a generous outlook towards the needs of Jewish Americans concerned about our safety, our rights under the Constitution, and the education of our children in the ways of their ancestors.

Good Shabbos!

Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org

Our Sages teach that Moshe’s father, Amram, withdrew from his wife because of Pharoah’s cruel decree that the midwives should kill any male Jewish child. His daughter Miriam protested, saying that because of him there would be no Jewish girls, either — and he accepted her reasoning, resulting in Moshe’s birth.

Amram returned to his wife, however, only after Pharoah replaced his failed edict with a new one — telling his entire nation to throw any Jewish boy into the Nile. The reason for this, says Rav Tzvi Elimelech Hertzberg, is that while it takes an open miracle to save a baby from a murderer, it takes only a hidden miracle to save a baby from privation — as then happened with Amram’s son, Moshe.

Recently we have seen an ongoing series of hidden miracles on behalf of our brothers and sisters in S’derot, Ashkelon, Ashdod and the entire region — not to mention the brave soldiers now deep in Gaza itself. May these miracles continue, and may we all see true peace come to Israel speedily.

Good Shabbos!
Rabbi Yaakov Menken
Director, Project Genesis – Torah.org