Judaism

Where families are strong, a sense of altruism exists that can be extended outward, from family to friends to neighbors to community and from there to the nation as a whole.

The meaning of a kingdom of priests is that each community has a leader which is most honored in it, and serves as its exemplar that people in that community follow, and they find the straight path through him.

It would seem to me that the word slach points to the former opinion – that it is a total forgiveness, since it is the same letters as the word chasal, which means to ‘finish completely.’

Originally, before its modern association with Sefirat HaOmer, Pirkei Avot consisted of only five chapters. This is why, for example, the Rambam’s commentary only addresses the first five. In this spirit there are also, of course, five books of the Torah.

As mentioned last week, the Bible actually uses both regimah and sekilah in the case of Achan (Joshua 7:25). Rashi explains that this is because Achan himself was subjected to regimah, while the animals he took as booty were subjected to sekilah (see also Targum and Radak there).

Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky notes that in the post-Holocaust years there was an unverbalized message conveyed to every child that he/she was vital to the Jewish cause. As a nation we had lost so much and had endured such utter devastation and destruction that every individual was crucial for our efforts to rebuild.

Some mistakenly believe that using a multi-wick candle is a requirement, citing the wording of the blessing Borei me’orei ha’eish (Who creates the lights of fire) as proof for this position.

Some students may thrive in a secular university because they may be called upon to take on leadership roles in a religious capacity, such as to help make the minyan or to arrange Torah study opportunities, when they might not be able do so in a Jewish college setting when there are already plenty of minyanim and Torah study opportunities.

I have been going to Meron for so many years, over 20 years on this special day, I cannot imagine this day anywhere else but by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's side. I felt hugged, I felt loved, I felt protected, and I felt like the heavens were opened wide to all my heart's desires.

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Lag Sameach and be careful

While, it’s very sad that so many people have to wait so long for their bashert, predominantly, it isn’t their fault. We try to find reasons why people aren’t married and tell them if only they tried this segulah, that event, that matchmaker, this person… they would be married.

The challenge is when perceived reality doesn’t map onto the system of justice. What do we think when confronted with a situation when someone seems to be suffering for no fault of their own?

Ben Azai teaches that it’s best not to consider which mitzvot are greater or lesser in value to the one who performs them because from beginning to do mitzvot one will add on more mitzvot, but if he does an aveira, then G-d forbid he may begin traveling down the other path.

Last year, when you made the bonfire, the smoke wafted heavily toward us, said Mr. Wasser. I found it quite intolerable!

The Impropriety Of Flattery “They Flattered King Agrippas” (Sotah 41b)

An individual who is miserly and jealous of others’ material prosperity will not truly want them to be blessed.

Even with night school, Avraham remained only nominally educated, but he was high on motivation. So high that he taught himself to become a CPA and then returned to the very office where he had started, at the very lowest rung.

Question: What if one counted the omer but forgot to utter the blessing – has the obligation been fulfilled? Why do we recite a blessing for this counting, when we find that for the zayin nekiyim – the seven clean days – there is no such blessing? Is the counting not similar? M. Goldman Miami Beach, Fla

When everyone studies the same thing on the same day, their learning is united across continents.

Being different from others not for the sake of Hashem is simply supercilious haughtiness.

Pesach Sheni constitutes the first Hebrew festival established 'from below' & sets the precedent for all the holidays that would later fill the month of Iyar.

In the years before my mother left this world she said over and over –‘kinderlach, children… I know what I am seeing. I know what I am saying. The world is on fire and we are sleeping.

Philosophy and logic are useful, often necessary, tools for approaching spiritual truths.

What is the secret of Jewish resilience?

What Giannis and Frum Influencers Got Wrong

Other things may change us, but we start and end with family. -Anthony Brandt

Why do our possessions belong to Hashem? The simplest explanation is that Hashem’s ownership is rooted in His creation of the world and all of its content.

The account in Deuteronomy is about society. Moses at the end of his life told the next generation where they had come from, where they were going to, and the kind of society they were to construct.

The awareness that Israel is the national expression of HaShem in this world and that our conduct is a direct reflection of His Divine Ideal should fill us with a deep sense of tremendous responsibility.