Columns

My children were growing up and leaving the nest. Wanting to fill up my days with a challenging project, I heard through a friend that a local high school needed an English teacher.

We recite a kapitel whose main focus stresses that Hashem is our strength and that He will protect us from our enemies.

For me, one of the gifts of this strange, difficult time has been the ability to slow down the prayers so that I am able to listen to them speaking to me. Praying is as much about listening as speaking. And faith itself is the ability to hear the music beneath the noise.

he first 11 chapters of Genesis teach us many fundamentals of faith; Exodus to Deuteronomy is about revelation and redemption. But what are Genesis 12-50 about?

The opposite ends of love and joy, to pain and sorrow are great. We tend to live somewhere in the middle between great joy and great pain.

Reflections from Rabbi Sacks’ following his first visit to Auschwitz in 1995

Classical writing requires ink and paper, which are technically separable. In engraving, the material being engraved becomes the writing.

The liturgy for the High Holiday Selichos is not found in most siddurim; rather, it is found in a special Selichos sefer, with a different selection for each day.

In connection to the Kinus HaShluchim HaOlomi, the global conference of the Rebbe’s emissaries, the following is a selection of freely translated priceless letters and answers from the Rebbe about the greatness of shlichus.

Rabbi Wertheimer further notes that wings create shade and thus serve as a metaphor for offering protection.

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Rav Kook was incensed over the relinquishing of ownership of the Western Wall. "No one," he declared, "possesses that power of attorney."

he sacrifices a woman brings on the birth of a child, and the period during which she is unable to enter the Temple, have nothing to do with any sin she may have committed or any “defilement” she may have undergone. They are, rather, to do with the basic fact of human mortality, together with the responsibility a parent undertakes for the conduct of a child

Where families are strong, a sense of altruism exists that can be extended outward, from family to friends to neighbors to community and from there to the nation as a whole.

The book of Bereishit keeps Halacha under control. It restricts and regulates it, and ensures that it will not wreak havoc.

Curiel has been researching his family tree for decades and has learned some astounding facts. There was a Rav Israel Ben Meir di Curiel, a Sage in Tzfat, who sat on the Beit Din in the 16th century along with Rav Yossef Caro. There were also 35 Jews named Curiel murdered in the Holocaust.

The MRI showed that our son had sustained a fractured skull and a double break in the arm that he had fallen on, it was truly a miracle. That arm had saved his life!

While daydreaming about finding the perfect job, I never expected to be rewarded in spades for my aforementioned experience.

As has been noted in a previous column, Reb Elimelech – like the Baal Shem Tov before him – asserted that pessimism and depression cause sin and spiritual apathy. Repentance (yes, even repentance!) that causes depression and sadness distances the Holy Presence.

What have you achieved this past year with the help of God, and what would you like to achieve with His help next year?

From the perspective of eternity we may sometimes be overwhelmed by a sense of our own insignificance. We are no more than a speck of dust on the surface of infinity. Yet we are here because G-d wanted us to be, because there is a task He wants us to perform. The search for meaning is the quest for this task.

We are approaching the period of the year that has been previously doomed for disaster. But this does not have to continue.

Our poor daughter well remembers her highly-anticipated bat mitzvah trip with us to Israel, that unfortunately fell far short of her expectations.

What then does the Torah say about Abraham? The answer is unexpected and very moving. Abraham was chosen simply to be a father.

Rabbi Pappenheim traces “yehgeh” to the root hey-gimmel, which primarily refers to diligence and consistency, making its derivative “yehgeh” refer to a lion consistently crying.

HaShem wanted the Israelites to become a living testimony to the power of freedom.

A person who is not careful to speak precisely… disregards the quality of his speech, as if he is grinding kemach.

This week's parsha deals with the strange set of laws dealing with tzara'at.

He handed it to me and hmm… yes, it was definitely a private check book left unattended, with a woman’s name, address, and phone number printed at the top.

‘Uncle’ Morris had told us that when he died he wanted our eldest daughter Rachel to have his wife’s candlesticks, but we brushed it off hoping he would use them for many more years as although not young, he was healthy and active.