The shofar blasts echoed throughout klal yisroel not so long ago. The days of Elul, and Awe, are upon us once again. Every year we run into the same cycle: school starts, schedules feel hectic, and before we realize it, it’s a blur of yomim tovim and the season is over. What do we have…
Shema Yisroel, HaShem Elokeinu, HaShem Echad. The most common English translation of it is this: Hear O Israel, HaShem is our G-d, HaShem is One. Rashi elaborates on the pasuk and writes it like this:
Do you serve HaShem to win the lottery or avoiding jail, or because you love Him?
I personally find it fascinating that regarding all of the holidays, we wish people a chag sameach, but when it comes to Pesach, it’s a chag kasher v’sameach. Even within the greeting, we acknowledge that when it comes to Pesach, we pull out all the stops and everyone takes on a stronger level of kashrus,…
We learn about ourselves, and how we are supposed to be, in the process of making matzo.
Our time in Galus has been a lengthy one. While in my current role I can’t tell the tales, my neshama has definitely taken the score. Why are we here? What’s our purpose in this land, in this city, at such a time as this? We have a few lessons we can learn from Purim…
One of the fundamental concepts of Bitachon is that of fully trusting HaShem to deliver. The question that arises, naturally, is how much work, hishtadlus, is necessary compared to HaShem intervening. There are a myriad of kosher opinions on the matter, ranging from the max on work to the minimum on work. In other words,…
“When Esav was forty years old, he took as a wife Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they were a source of spiritual rebellion to Yitzchok and to Rivka.” Bereishis 26:34-35 Esav was forty when he married. Up to that point, his focus in life was living…
This parsha contains a lot of foundational concepts to guide us in yiddishkeit, from acceptance to zeal. We see shidduchim, mourning over loss, bitachon, and suffering. Given the recent climate of events, it seems most appropriate to focus on bitachon and suffering.
How does one process the recent events that have fallen upon klal yisroel? How do we respond? How can we protect ourselves from harm?
Rabbi Tzvi Hollander, a frequent guest to our community, once shared a chiddush, a novel idea, with me regarding the Pesach Seder. He said when it comes to the Seder, we are all guests, even the Baal HaBayis, the host. As a result, when the Seder falls on Friday evening, we don’t sing Shalom Aleichem….
Last year I shared a mashal from the Arvei Nachal and words of insight from Rabbi Benzion Twerski on a way to approach this season and grow from it.
