Judaism

Question: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an end to almost all public gatherings; hence, much of Jewish congregational ritual has come to a halt. Is there a way to make up for everything we missed? M. Goldman

Korach was the hero of the hour. His ratings and the spirit of the times were on his side.

They realized he must have got on a bus, but they had no idea which bus. They had no way of knowing whether it had been a bus to Ramot where we live.

Tefillah is only m’drabbanan, but the avoidance of machlokes is m’doraysa.

The Carpenter’s Folly ‘All [Worn-Out] Holy Writings…’ (Shabbos 115a)

By expressing, in terms they could comprehend, the Torah’s profound mystical secrets, he provided his disciples a window into his own overarching perspective and exalted vision.

Fights and disagreements often feel sweet and right in the moment but lead to bitterness and regrets in the long run.

Their aim was to discredit Moshe, damage his credibility, raise doubts among the people as to whether he really was receiving his instructions from G-d.

Should the average Jew learn Kabbalah?

In another famous Talmudic passage, the rabbis speak about taming the force of the Evil Inclination for idolatry, which took on the form of a lion made of fire.

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Throughout some of my hardest times, I always felt as if the Lubavitcher Rebbe, though I never met him, was always there for me.

With Moshe at the rock, I wonder whether the Gemara implies Moshe had trouble believing words alone could do the trick.

The nation had nothing to do. There was no mission to accomplish, no sense of urgency, and about this our sages wrote: "Idleness leads to boredeom and boredom leads to sin."

An obligation b'dinei Shamayim doesn’t just mean an ethical responsibility.

We have to be very mindful of the lashon hara pitfalls and traps that the yeitzer hara cleverly sets for us during this pandemic.

By All Means Rescue! ‘If One Removes a Fish from the Sea’ (Shabbos 107b)

I didn’t realize that the anecdotes I gave my offspring, and then grandchildren, would truly be heard and also remembered.

Today, the challenge is to bring the Torah’s teachings, including its deepest mystical concepts, to Jews far from Torah as a means of drawing them back to Yiddishkeit.

Because the Jewish people lacked emunah, they became troubled and confused.

Question: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an end to almost all public gatherings; hence, much of Jewish congregational ritual has come to a halt. Is there a way to make up for everything we missed? M. Goldman

It’s not entirely clear within the narrative what the spies did wrong. They were asked to scout the land and report back, and that’s what they did.

They were about to enter a land they had not seen. They had no idea what they were fighting for.

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Rabbi Mecklenberg writes that “arisah” is related to “eres” (bed): Just as dough consists of a mixture of flour and water, so too a bed’s mattress rest on a mixture of interplaced beams or planks.

The things that the meraglim saw were true, however, Hashem is always trying to see the good and to concentrate on what is positive.

Is it proper to let one’s children watch movies?

To prevent us from “expiring” there is only one alternative. We need to be “inspired”, to reanimate ourselves with the spiritual insights of the soul.

Many of the commentators find a disturbingly strong rationale in the Jews’ complaint mentioned above. The complainers were essentially blaming Moshe for setting up a murderous trap for the two hundred and fifty men that contested the choice of Aharon and his sons as priests.

Question: The Covid-19 pandemic has put an end to almost all public gatherings; hence, much of Jewish congregational ritual has come to a halt. Is there a way to make up for everything we missed? M. Goldman