Torah

“But as much as they would afflict it, so it would increase and so it would burst forth; and they were disgusted because of the Children of Israel.”

 – Sh’mos 1:12

The Midrash (quoted by Rashi) tells us that when Yitzchok married Rivka, he brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, “for as long as Sarah was alive, a candle burned from one Shabbos eve to the next, a blessing was found in the dough, and a cloud was attached to the tent. When she died, these things ceased, and when Rivka arrived, they resumed.”

And Hashem said to Avram, “Go for yourself from your land, from your birth place, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”

– B’reishis 12:1

Our Sages tell us that the name of an individual reflects his inner character and essence. It is what connects him to his spiritual nature, serving as the conduit that provides sustenance and nourishment to his soul. Therefore, the naming of a baby is a serious undertaking that involves great responsibility.

“You shall count for yourselves – from the morrow of the rest day (Pesach), from the day when you bring the omer (a measure of volume) of the waving – seven weeks, they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count, fifty days…” (Leviticus 23:15-16)

It was Friday afternoon, and the Jewish residents of Pressburg, Czechoslovakia, were winding down their Shabbos preparations. The food was cooked, the children bathed, and it was now time for the men to begin heading out to the great synagogue for the special Friday night prayers. As the great Rav of Pressburg, R’ Moshe Sofer ZT”L (Chasam Sofer), put on his rabbinic coat and stepped through the doorway of his home, he instinctively placed his right hand on the mezuzah to kiss it, as he was careful to do whenever he walked through a door.