Relationships
Many people today are being sucked into the electronic and computerized devices. The youth suffer from this connection more than anyone else.
Nissei Nissim
It took a few months, but I finally summoned up what little koach I had to go to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, for “Sunday Dollars.” I wanted to take my new baby to the Rebbe. Although he was about three months old at the time, I had not been strong enough until now to attempt a trip to 770 Eastern Parkway.
The Need For The Beginning
The emphasis on choice, freedom and responsibility is a most distinctive features of Jewish thought.
They Will Take My Shas
Rav Yosef, shlita, born in Krakow in 1919, was 18 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland. He came from an illustrious Belzer family of talmidei chachamim (Torah scholars), dayanim (judges), and people renowned for their charity and kindness. He had the privilege of meeting the Belzer Rebbe, zt"l, a number of times, as well as spending yamim tovim in Belz. All this left a deep and holy impression on him.
Deepening Our Perception Of Challenges
If we can change what we want, we can change who we are. When we make new decisions, we create a new reality for ourselves.
Important Moments In Becoming A Ba’al Teshuvah (Part I)
You don’t become a ba’al teshuvah overnight. There were many events in my life that contributed to the deepening of my religious commitment, including a party I attended with young, beautiful church members who tried to make me one of them, and how I met their “Jewish priest.” (I’ll discuss both experiences during the course of this continuing column.)
The Limits Of Love
Love is central to Judaism: not just love between husband and wife, parent and child, but also love for G-d, for neighbor and stranger.
The Time To Learn Torah Is Now
The Mishnah in Pirkei Avos says: Don't say, 'I will study Torah when I have time,' for perhaps you will never have time.
A Spiritual Giant
The people with whom he was in contact, the people to whom he taught chassidus, saw in front of them a Jew who lives in this world, but is higher than this world. Whose needs and wants in this world were only spiritual.
Politics And The Jewish Approach To Leadership
Leaders are appointed by the people and are therefore completely subject to the will of the people. They walk ahead, pretending to lead, while in fact, they are merely puppets.
The Answered Prayer
Every year, prior to the High Holy Days, I visit the graves of four generations of my ancestors buried on Har HaZeitim (the Mount of Olives).
Hearing Within The Darkness
When you hear someone else speaking, you must collect all the pieces of sound together and reconstruct them into a connected picture in your mind so that you can grasp their meaning.
Heavenly Accounting
Hi, I just received a delivery and I found quarter of a watermelon that I didn’t take. Can you check if I paid for it?
Deed And Creed
Admittedly, the Talmud questions how free the Israelites actually were, and it uses an astonishing image.
We Are What We Remember
We are what we remember, and the first-fruits declaration was a way of ensuring that Jews would never forget.
A Kol Nidre Story
This past Yom Kippur, my father, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor, surprised our family by recounting a wartime Kol Nidre observance that stirred his soul.
Wedding Planner
Ten years ago, when a good friend got married, she and another friend put together a book of lists and tips to help her organize her wedding. Since she enjoyed the project, Roni continued on her own to make these books for couples about to be married.
The Guided Limousine
Yet, ultimately, looking back, these “setbacks” turned out to be really for the patient’s best – for the good.
Calling for Religious Unity Only Leads to Division
Nobody doubts that unity of the Jewish people is of crucial importance. Still, we have to ask ourselves if in all cases unity is really THE highest value to strive for.
A Spiritual Pitfall (Part I)
The story of Korach is often considered one of rebellion, but it can also be seen as a case of mistaken idealism, a philosophical challenge, or misplaced spiritual yearning.
The Chaftetz Chaim’s Erev Yom Kippur Shmuz
At some point in the last half a year, everyone has had something in their lives changed. The most important thing to know about these changes is that they were orchestrated by Hashem personally.
Defining Reality
Do not think that we can survive as a nation among nations, worshiping what they worship and living as they live. If we do, we will be subject to the universal law that has governed the fate of nations from the dawn of civilization to today.
Freedom Means Telling The Story
Covenant societies exist not because they have been there a long time, nor because of some act of conquest, nor for the sake of some economic or military advantage. They exist to honor a pledge, a moral bond, an ethical undertaking.
A Second Chance
And when the time finally comes to have the verdict read out loud, one can just imagine how tense and scared this person will be to find out if his life will now go back to normal, more or less, or be changed for the worse.
Planning Ahead
Now other than it being very frustrating we must learn to contemplate on those times and see beyond the moment of distress to a higher force.
To Pray Like A Poor Person
A rich person is always susceptible to the delusion that my strength and the power of my hand have produced this wealth for me (Devarim 8:17). Such arrogance makes true prayer, true connection with G-d, impossible.
Torah Min HaShamayim
To make sure that everyone was equally involved in the writing of the sefer Torah, the writing of the first few verses took place at four separate venues, the homes of relatives of the fallen, where the sofer wrote the words of different parashot.
A Fine Lawyer
She was determined that the Law class was Dina’s best chance of finding a husband, and that was the real reason she wanted her to go to college.
Never Give Up
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.
Guard Your Influence (V)
This Torah family, despite being in mourning, truly understood the value of every act and how it could change the world.