The Message Of Tefillin – For Old And Young
When a Jew of any age or condition begins his day with tefillin, he takes the two most important forces in life and points them in the right direction.
Avraham and Sarah’s ‘Debate’
If we are expected to pray for someone and we neglect to do so, we are robbing them of something that is rightfully theirs.
Creating Profiles
When judging others, Avraham Avinu did not compare the status of the tzaddik to himself. Rather, he expanded the definition of a tzaddik.
Torah Shorts: Parshat Vayera: Naturally Beyond Nature
The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding. -Francis Bacon
Transcending the Stars
How often do we create mental cages of our own? How often do we allow other people's opinions of us to become our reality?
A Message to the Doubters
Obviously, we need to understand what drove the mistakes we made and feel remorseful for them, but we cannot and must not ruminate on them.
How Terrible To Overturn The Laws Of Nature
A story is told in the Gemara (Shabbat 53b) of a man whose wife died, leaving him an infant son. The man was too poor to afford a wet nurse to feed his baby, so he miraculously grew breasts and nursed the baby himself.
Hineini: Abraham’s Test And Our Future
Abraham was shown that his test was not only about his own faith…. By this test, G-d created the means for Abraham’s descendants to survive all adversity.
Vayeira: Sarah’s Role In The Hebrew Mission
What can the dynamics between Yitzḥak and Yishmael in Parshat Vayeira teach us about Israel’s ideal relationship with the Muslim world?
Redeeming Relevance: A People Chosen for Opposition
While there is plenty of room for cooperation and interaction with other larger cultures, it is important for the Jewish people to remember that a key role God wants it to play is to often stand on the other side and follow our own path.
What Real Education Is All About
We are accustomed to talk about our difficulties and hardships, but not to share our deliverance from them.
Unknown Destination
When a person knows his destination, then as he comes closer the journey becomes easier…But when has no idea when his journey will end, it is more difficult, and he therefore merits reward for every step that he takes on this journey.
The Judge Of The Whole World
Yeshayahu is anticipating the future destruction and exile and is trying fruitlessly to inspire the people of his generation to return to Hashem before it’s too late.
Just One More Shabbos: Holding Onto The Power Of Spiritual Growth All Year
If these past 18 months taught us anything it is that no one knows what the day holds. We are not in control.
Might Does Not Make Right
It would seem that the crimes of idolatry and immorality are more heinous than theft, yet the generation would have escaped destruction if their sins had only been between man and G-d.
Lot And The Danger Of Getting ‘In With’ The Wrong Crowd
Lot recognized the dangers of Sodom, but he thought he had the inner strength and conviction to overcome all the sin and negativity that defined that place.
Are You Willing to Journey Into the Unknown? Parshas Lech Lecha
May we all be inspired to follow in the footsteps of Avraham, and have the courage to embark on our own Lech Lecha journey,
Lekh Lekha: From Avram To Avraham
How the leader of a universal spiritual movement learned to reorient himself to the understanding that his goals for humanity could only be achieved through the vehicle of a nation in a specific land.
Requited Altruism
Noach needed to continue to adhere to the chesed he was carrying out for the animals, and not to let up for even a moment, in order that he merit to remain alive.
100 BILLION MESSAGES A DAY
Moments like a worldwide outage can and should be opportunities to consider our own relationship with technology and time
Apocalyptic Visions
The first thing to understand in encountering our haftara is that there is no belief in millennial destruction that is axiomatic to Judaism.
Watch: The Realness of Noah’s Ark with Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman
Rabbi Yishai Fleisher is joined by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman, author and professor of Tanakh at Bar-Ilan University, to talk about the secret structure in the story of Noah's Ark.
After Noah: The Mystery Of The Flood
Why does the Torah use the Name that connotes Divine mercy rather than Divine judgement when telling of the Creator's decision to destroy humankind? Could there be more to this story?
The Great Trait Of Gentleness
Let’s remember the litmus test for whether Hashem is happy with us is “If people are at ease with us, Hashem is at ease with us.” People are at ease with a gentle person!
Emerging From Formlessness Waters Reborn
A central question in the story of Noach is why Hashem specifically chose to destroy the world through a FLOOD. Hashem could have chosen any form of destruction, and yet, He chose water. Why?
Reflection On Sukkot
When we examine the lives of the fathers of our nation, we see that they had to continually confront challenges and crises.
B’reishit: Creation’s Secret Internal Structure
There's a hidden understanding of our Torah that has yet to reach the English-speaking Jewish world.
An Open Invitation?
The Evil Inclination only comes in when there is an inviting accessible point of entry.
Living with the Original Ideals of Creation
The process of life: The ideal is revealed, taken away, and then remains as our goal as we journey through life, trying to recreate that ideal. The KEY is to be inspired by the goal, not discouraged by the struggle.
The Incredible Word Bereishis
One of the highlights of a Jewish man’s day is the public sanctification of Hashem’s Name. He does this with the answering of, “Amein, yehei shemei rabbah…” And Bereishis stands for, “Ameim, yehei shemei rabbah b’kol tefillah.”