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In his commentary on our verse, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808 – 1888) connected the Hebrew word “Or” (light), spelled with an aleph, to the similar-sounding words “Er” (awake) and “Or” (skin), ...

We take light for granted. But in the Torah’s opening chapter of Bereshit, it was God’s first gift. It seems fitting, then, that when a local synagogue committed itself to helping an impoverished ...

As the cycle of Torah readings begins anew with Parshat Bereshit, we encounter once more the drama of Creation: light breaking forth from darkness, order emerging from chaos and the Divine word giving ...