YONAH WAS AGAINST telling the people of Nineveh that the end was nigh if they did not repent because he knew they would do teshuvah and save themselves.

Parashas Bereishis…again. The cycle begins…again. The amazing thing, at least for me, is how there is a whole new excitement…again. Usually, I cannot read a book twice (and my own books, not even once), except for Torah books.

IT’S THE LAST parsha of the Torah, and it’s about the brochos that Moshe Rabbeinu bestowed upon the 12 Tribes just prior to his death at the end of the parsha. And just like the brochos that Ya’akov Avinu gave to his 12 sons at the end of Parashas Vayechi, they make no sense to us. Thank God for Rashi.

LAST EREV SHABBOS my chavrusa and I wished each other a good last Shabbos of the year (I’m writing this before Rosh Hashanah), as we signed off from Zoom to continue getting ready for Shabbos. As we did, we reflected on how we lost a friend, zt”l, the previous week whom just last year at the same time we thought would live for years to come. He was exactly my age when he passed away.

THIS LAST WEEK I lost a good friend and mentor, Rabbi Yehudah Landy, zt”l, to a brain tumor at a young age. He was the one who first approached me in 1993 to write a parsha sheet which shortly after became “Perceptions.” I have admired him ever since.