Columns

And you can’t find a technician in your neighborhood to repair your fridge? Reb Moshe asked. Try to get someone else to come down. I tried! the man protested. I called a few, but no one was available. Look, he said, I need my refrigerator for Shabbos, or my food will go bad. Please! I’ll pay you double!

A man of lesser stature as a Talmudist could not have undertaken such a mission, for the opposition included some of the most illustrious scholars of the time.

The aspect of G-d that appears in the days of Moses and the Israelites is radically different, and it’s only because we are so used to the story that we find it hard to see how radical it was.

While this story is one of extraordinary commitment and loyalty, it is also one of utter foolishness.

This isn't just any party. It's a chanukas habayis plus seudas hodaya for your smooth recuperation. We can't just serve sponge cake.

This saintly man became the founder of Chabad chassidism, a movement that developed into one of the strongest and most dynamic branches of chassidism.

When we live holistic lives, tapping into the true meaning of existence, life becomes a song, a magical and immersive experience.

Korach’s motives were wrong. He spoke like a democrat but what he wanted was to be an autocrat. He wanted to be a leader himself.

Aside from the long hours spent in the classroom, there are many more hours devoted to preparing lessons and writing and later grading tests, among many other responsibilities. And, glutton for punishment that I suspect he is, my husband also writes curriculum and a variety of texts/workbooks for his students.

If you see a person who has love of G-d but lacks love of Torah and love of his fellow, you must tell him that his love of G-d is incomplete.

Between parents and children, he said, there are often tensions. Parents worry about their children. Children sometimes rebel against their parents. The relationship is not always smooth. Not so with grandchildren.

Shana means that which is cyclical and repetitive, representing mindless ritual. However, shana also has another distinct meaning: to learn and to change (shinui, l’shanos). This is because when you add chiddush to shana, i.e., when you infuse newness into the circle, you create spiraling growth.

Always ready to be ‘dan le’kav zechus’ she pinned a note on the stroller saying I’m sure you didn’t mean to destroy my stroller – if you’d like to apologize this is my phone number… For days she waited for the phone call that never came.

The technician was certain that the Rabbi intended to upbraid him personally for having caused him discomfort and for attempting to continue against his will. Rav Moshe, however, had something else in mind.

The Rebbe stressed that the court’s ruling that the library belongs to Chassidei Chabad was a reflection of the Heavenly court’s decision that the Rebbe’s chassidim were doing what was required of them.

In Judaism kadosh, holy, means separation. To sanctify is to separate. Why? Because when we separate, we create order. We defeat chaos. We give everything and everyone their space.

There may be nothing more enchanting, mystical, and mysterious than the wonder of music. It has the ability to reach the very root of our soul.

My eyes tear up each morning when the name of another soldier fallen in battle is announced on the 6 a.m. news.

Over the years, the Rebbe sent him to me several times to help him with what he needed. Baruch Hashem, I had the zechus of helping him and of getting to know him up close.

Joseph has the misfortune of being the youngest. He symbolizes the Jewish condition. His brothers are older and stronger than he is. They resent his presence. They see him as a trouble maker. The fact that their father loves him only makes them angrier and more resentful.

The conception of beauty was a fundamental point of contention in the battle between the Jewish People and the Greeks. The Greeks did not believe in using the physical to reflect anything higher; they viewed physical beauty as an end unto itself.

The volunteering spirit overcame his hesitations, and he left his unfinished job to answer the call for help. Danny was pleasantly surprised when he arrived at the scene of the vehicle on the side of the road. It was a Hatzalah ambulance that had conked out!

Torah teaches us that time is extremely precious, and every moment must be used to its fullest advantage. Why then do we use time to repeat things already known?

In the end Joseph and his brothers had to live through real trauma before they were able to recognize one another’s humanity, and much of the rest of their story – the longest single narrative in the Torah – is about just that.

The prophet Zecharia foretells of the Messianic Era – which will occur long after the Canaanites had ceased to exist as a nation – when there will no longer be any c’naani in the Holy Temple (Zecharia 14:21).

How do we understand and perceive Hashem? Is Hashem within time and space, limited to this world alone, as Pantheists believe? Or is Hashem completely transcendent, beyond time, space, and this physical world, as many of the ancient philosophers believed?

We were so worried about those terrorists, but when we returned to the place that we had seen them, no one was in sight. That was miracle number one.

Rabbis reported that people are lighting Shabbat candles, purchasing and donning tefillin – some for the first time – saying the Shema prayer daily, and baking challah.

It is one thing to commit a crime, another to witness someone committing a crime and failing to prevent it. We might hold a bystander guilty, but not in the same degree.

In Modern Hebrew, the term miklat came to refer to a bomb shelter, which likewise receives those fleeing air raids and protects them.