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ב"ה

Vayechi 5767 - January 5, 2007

Are Matchmakers Honest?

"I get the part about G-d creating heaven and earth," says the Roman matron. "But once He got that down, what has He been doing since?" "Since then," the sage replies, "He's been matchmaking..."
Parshah
Vayechi in a Nutshell
Jacob blesses each of his sons before his passing. He is buried in the Cave of Machpelah in the Holy Land. Joseph dies at age 110, and asks his descendants to bury his remains in the Holy Land. This comes to pass only years later, upon the exodus from Egypt.
Story
The Wicked Lamb
“Brothers and sisters!” the king roared. “We must each search our hearts and confess our sins, so we should know who is the cause of this calamity . . .”
Is the Holocaust Explicable?

G-d created the rules of nature and logic. Could He not have created a world in which peace, harmony and light can be fully appreciated even when not preceded by pain and suffering?
Women
Letting Go

Treatment after treatment, month after month, year after year, my womb remained empty. Nothing happened except the pain in my heart grew stronger...
Rabbi Leib, the "Grandfather of Shpoli," related that when he was a child of three he saw the Baal Shem Tov. "He placed his holy hand on my heart and ever since I have felt warm." A gesture of a tzaddik (righteous person), certainly seeing him and hearing his voice, will make an impression never to be forgotten.
— Hayom Yom, Tevet 14
Print Magazine

Due to the limitations of your reality, some of your best friends can enter only incognito.

In fact, the really big ones sometimes sneak in disguised as ugly monsters and vicious enemies. Otherwise, the guards at the gate would never permit them entry.

These are the events optimists call “blessings in disguise.”

Here’...