What Motivates Our Decisions?

Who could ever know if learning with disciples was preferable to pursuing self-growth and attaining spiritual perfection at the feet of the generation’s most respected saint?

Walking Into Freedom – Every Day

We are supposed to prepare for the 14th of Nissan, the day of the Exodus from Egypt. To study the holiday, to go through the Haggadah and, mainly, to go forth into freedom ourselves.

Torah Shorts: What Was Aaron Thinking!? (Ki Tisa)

I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day. -Abraham Lincoln

How To Ruin A Red Cow

Although a person is usually liable even for accidental damage, Rabban Yochanan explains that, in this case, he is really completely exempt, but the Sages fined people who purposely damage property so that they won’t do so wantonly.

Q & A: Four Special Torah Readings (Part II)

Question: I would like to know why there are four special readings of the Torah from the beginning of Adar until Pesach. Also, why do we call each of those four Shabbatot by a special name? Finally, when did the practice of reading a parshah every week start? Celia Gluck

Try Being Nice To Your Spouse

We must therefore constantly remind ourselves that it’s the Jewish way to stand by the side of a mate through thick and thin.

How Leaders Fail

There are times when you need someone with the courage to stand against the crowd, others when you need a peacemaker.

Stiff-Necked

Stiff-necked people are creatures of habit, and those habits become especially rigid during times of stress.

Hindsight Is 20/20

You won’t understand the logic of events as they occur because “My face may not be seen.”

Day Schools – The Only Viable Future For The Diaspora

I have always said that when a Jewish day school closes down, there is no future for the local Jewish population, and within just a few years the Jewish community will be compromised.

Animal Sounds (Part I)

An apocryphal Midrash describes the colorful sounds made by the animals etched on King Solomon’s throne. Most of these words do not appear in the Bible.

Is It Proper…? When publishing a deceased person’s writings, may one censor a tiny...

When publishing a deceased person’s writings, may one censor a tiny amount of material in order to vastly increase the number of people who will read it and be influenced by the author?

Clear Sailing Ahead

As Jews, no matter what we are experiencing and going through, it’s the Torah and all it entails that keeps us alive and riveted no matter what is happening around us.

Silver Linings

Our lives have effectively been upended for many long and fearful months, and the toll in lives lost and disrupted is staggering indeed... And it is sadly not yet over.

Daf Yomi

He Might Extinguish It ‘The Best Way of Performing the Mitzvah’ (Pesachim 103b)

Q & A: Four Special Torah Readings (Part I)

Question: I would like to know why there are four special readings of the Torah from the beginning of Adar until Pesach. Also, why do we call each of those four Shabbatot by a special name? Finally, when did the practice of reading a parshah every week start? Celia Gluck

Amalekite Perfectionism

Haman has oceans of honor but he’s lacking one drop. Everyone bows down to him, but he needs Mordechai to bow down, too. If not, all the honor he has received means nothing.

Don’t Chase Hashem Away

While this story is quite remarkable, we must wonder: Why did Hashem allow Ezra’s holy Sefer Torah to be defaced in the first place?

The Power Of A Child’s Prayer

The great R’ Elchonon Wasserman noted that children form the foundation of the Jewish nation.

Tetzave: The Purpose Of The Kohanim

By submerging individual identity into the collective Hebrew nation, the kohanim work to cleanse the children of Israel from all transgressions and to inspire the people with a powerful show of kedusha.

Of Priests And Prophets

The Priest was “holy” and therefore set apart from the people. He had to eat his food in a state of purity, and had to avoid contact with the dead.

Where Did Mordechai Get His Strength?

Halacha tells us to obey the law of the land (Nedarim 28a), but this instruction applies only to material matters, not to spiritual matters.

Can An Unconscious Person Give Shaloch Manos?

The family suddenly realized that giving on his behalf while he was sedated may not have counted, so they called Rabbi Dayan and asked him.

Fake Faces

Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740-1814) writes that “masveh” and “suto” are related to “stav” (autumn or fall) and refer to soft, spongy fabrics worn to insulate oneself from cold weather.

Redeeming Relevance: Acting in a World of Doubt

Yet, if Mordechai teaches us that doubt is no reason for inaction, it is Esther that teaches us that it is actually a reason for even more effort

Is It Proper…? Should a lawyer defend someone in court whom he thinks is...

Should a lawyer defend someone in court whom he thinks is guilty? What if the man is truly despicable (e.g., a child killer)?

Choices

When I think of Queen Esther I usually feel sad for her. Everyone was saved and she had to stay with Achashverosh.

A Year Ago We Put on Masks For Purim and Haven’t Taken Them Off...

Purim will essentially mark a full year of living through a pandemic that has radically changed our lives. While we are beyond grateful for the progress with treatments and vaccinations, the return to some sense of normalcy doesn’t seem imminent.

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