Michael Mantell

This Yosef is profoundly different from the young man we met years earlier in Vayeishev, the one who brought negative reports about his brothers and spoke without sensitivity. Twenty years later, shaped by betrayal, suffering, responsibility, and faith, Yosef has grown into someone emotionally wise and spiritually grounded. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.]

Chanukah commemorates two intertwined events: the military victory of the Maccabees in 165 B.C.E. and the miracle of the cruse of oil that burned for eight days in the rededicated Temple. The Sages emphasized the miracle of the oil over the battlefield triumph, teaching that the essence of the holiday is pirsuma d’nisa, publicizing the miracle. Candle lighting and Hallel are therefore central mitzvot, announcing that Hashem is present in history and that His light endures. {Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D]

The Torah is not a book of fairy tales in which righteous people live peacefully ever after. The Torah is a book about real life, not life as we wish it to be, but life as we experience it: unpredictable, demanding, confusing, and yet always filled with the possibility of growth. It’s telling us psychology. It’s telling us the story of us. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.]

Many of us are fluent in asking through prayer and supplication for clarity, healing, livelihood. But how fluent are we in thanking? [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.]

The Torah is teaching us something essential: love is not merely an emotion we fall into. It is something we cultivate. It is born of choice, nurtured through shared purpose, and deepened through acts of kindness and spiritual connection. Yitzchak does not stumble into love; he chooses it. He nurtures it. And through that choice, his heart begins to mend. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.}

Each year, as we return to the opening words of the Torah, we are invited to begin again, not merely to reread familiar stories, but to renew our vision, our understanding, and our inner world. Bereishit is not only about the creation of the universe; it’s about the creation of the self, of human consciousness, purpose, and moral responsibility. [Michael Mantell, Ph.D.}

Hearing is a passive sensory experience, simply perceiving noise, vibrations, jangle, echo. Listening is an active choice of paying attention, assigning meaning to what we hear, necessary to promote and advance our learning. [Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.]