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He was so embarrassed! Here he didn’t even belong in the business class section, and he had inadvertently made an elderly passenger with legitimate rights to the cabin uncomfortable.

What was sacrifice in Judaism and why does it remain important, at least as an idea, even today?

The Mishneh Torah was not written only for great Torah scholars. The Rambam writes that he composed it in a clear, unambiguous style for all Jews – k’katan k’gadol – for the small as for the great.

Rosh Hashanah memories take us to our shuls, homes and families. They remind us of promises made about how we would change our lives and rearrange our priorities. There may also be memories of the delicacies we ate when we were children – the chicken soup, gefilte fish and great desserts. And one sound, the sound of the shofar blasting away with its shrill notes of tekiah, shevarim... and finally the long, very last sound – the tekiah gedolah.

In parshat Yitro, Israel receives its first system of governance: a hierarchical structure of authority with Moses at the top. Why did this important development come, as it were, from outside?

“But they told me to come in today,” she said. They gave me this date months ago. It’s not my fault if it’s the wrong day.”

In contrast to her Eicha-like lamentations of the previous hour or more, however, my youngest was now grinning from ear-to-ear.

Abraham is the supreme example in all of history of influence without power.

The Rebbe cared for each and every person of the generation, regardless of their background or upbringing. The Rebbe didn’t label any Jew. To the Rebbe, a Jew is a Jew; there is nothing more and nothing less.

As I sit at my home computer typing these words, virtual gale-force winds are blowing through my apartment, filling it with fresh – and free – air. This has not always been the case. In fact the electric bill for the past two months was astronomical, due in large part to our high usage of air conditioning virtually around the clock.

No year will exceed the seminary year in influencing the development of these young women.

The inability to fully understand the destination of one’s own growth can be compared to a child’s inability to grasp a complex scientific or spiritual concept.

About two months later, she called to inquire if I want to work for her daughter. My heart danced at her thoughtfulness. Even though the job was not my line of work I enthusiastically accepted.

When a Jew loses his own self-respect, when he no longer knows how a Jew thinks, speaks or acts, he adopts non-Jewish attitudes.

Torah means “law.” But it also means “teaching, instruction, guidance,” or more generally, “direction.”

If we were to neglect or disregard such a gift, that would be a great insult and disrespect to whoever gave us the present. The greater the value, the greater the insult.

During the war between France and Russia, Rabbi Schneur Zalman espoused the Russian cause, and through the cooperation of his followers proved of great service to the Russian High Command.

There is something very strange about the festival of Succot, of which our parsha is the primary source. On the one hand, it is...

Another verse in Psalms (68:35) exhorts the reader to give “oz” to G-d. Obviously we can’t actually strengthen G-d.

It’s not simply that there is no room for such questions, rather we would be fools not to stop and think about why He chose this outcome.

The time came for the case to be called up and there was Mr. Cohen, facing the judge alone (of course, he knew that he wasn't alone, but his lawyer wasn't there.)

As I was crying I picked up the phone and called my daughter, I told her that I think I stopped believing and once again I started to cry.

Nice story. But how the shidduch came about… that’s something incredible.

We were pleasantly surprised, just after my wife lit the Shabbos candles, when Sonja’s face lit up and she exclaimed, “I remember my mother doing that!”

Many people have asked me to comment on Miriam Anzovin’s Daf Reactions on TikTok.

A pattern is beginning to emerge: Avraham was learning that there is a long and winding road between promise and fulfillment. Not because G-d does not keep His word, but because Avraham and his descendants were charged with bringing something new into the world

As we explained earlier, “drawing water” and “lifting up” can actually be seen as one act.

The exact details of that nocturnal levayah have long since faded from my memory. However, one poignant story shook me to the core of my being – and remains with me still.

A whole slew of other words also come from ayin-lammed, including “elyon” (high), “l’maaleh” (up), “oleh” (elevate), “aleh” (leaf, which grows on a branch), “ohl” (yoke, which placed on an animal), “meil (tunic, which is worn on top of other clothing), “na'al” (shoe, which is worn on top of the foot), etc.

The physical world was naturally seen as an expression of a spiritual reality, and it was easy to source the physical back to the spiritual.