Joseph
Judah or Joseph: Will the Real Hero Please Stand Up
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I love kitsch spaghetti westerns. While I can finish an entire bucket of popcorn in the first half of the movie, my favorite part is the showdown: the classic face-to-face shootout that pits two men against each...
Which Biblical Figure is Similar to Joseph?
It is time for a Bible quiz. QUESTION: Who began life as the son of slaves and rose to live in Pharoah’s house? ANSWER: Everyone knows that is Moses. QUESTION: Who tricked his twin and got his father’s blessing? ANSWER: Everyone knows...
Dispel Darkness with Light and Love
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Many scholars place Joseph’s descent to Egypt at around 1500 BCE. The Maccabees dedicated the Temple in year 165 BCE. These two events were separated by more than one thousand years and seem entirely...
How do You Interpret the Return to Zion?
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Western culture does not value dreams enough. I am not referring to hopes and ambitions which are plans we make when we are awake. They are dominated by reason and logic. Hopes and ambitions are lightly sprinkled...
The Secret of Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors
I was the chef at a Jerusalem steak house with a modest reputation for several years. A young man came to the restaurant one day looking for a job. He had just completed a relatively expensive one-year course at a local cooking school but...
What Can We Learn About Love of the Land from the Daughters of Zelophehad?
I was walking past a bulletin board and saw the strangest notice: “I lost it. I don’t know what it is or where it is. I’ve never actually seen it. Some people say that it doesn’t belong to me but I really love it. Whatever it is.” This...
Where are We in the Messianic Process?
Many people believe that Judaism is not ‘Messianic’, and that observant Jews are only concerned about performing commandments. But one of the commandments, as enumerated by Maimonides, is to anticipate that the Messiah will arrive at any...
Why Wasn’t Joseph Buried in the Land of Israel Immediately Upon His Death?
Like his father Jacob who also died in Egypt, Joseph wanted to be buried in the Promised Land. But unlike his father whose body was embalmed and taken to Hebron directly after his passing, Joseph had to wait 139 years until the Jews left...
Did Joseph sin by having his father’s body embalmed?
After Jacob died, Joseph ordered his physicians to embalm his father. This is shocking to many as embalming is forbidden by Jewish law, and the only other mention of embalming in the Bible was performed on Joseph just a few years later...
Why do we bless our children to be like Ephraim and Manasseh?
The Torah portion of Vayechi (Genesis 47:28–50:26) tells of the end of Jacob’s life. He lives the last 17 years of his life in Egypt. When he is about to leave the world, Joseph brings his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father to...