Falling Sick Days Before Your Wedding
My necessary suffering was clear: postponing the wedding, entering isolation, placing my relatives in isolation, treating the headaches and other corona symptoms that had begun to appear. Despite all of this, I had to cope. That was clear.
A Young Boy – And A Talmid Chacham
He tried to size me up based on that one moment. He didn’t take into account all the effort I had been putting in.
A Threat From Outside
Openness to acculturation, assimilation, and the foreign influences of the street leads to the destruction of the sanctity of the Jewish home.
A Victory For Jewish Purity
For chassidim, Kislev features another celebration. On the 19th of Kislev in 1798, the Alter Rebbe was released from Czarist imprisonment.
When God Intrudes on Science
Ramban’s view of yibum has long fascinated me, because of the metaphysics it assumes about a seemingly natural event.
Necessary Vs. Unnecessary Suffering
To our dismay, the pandemic is a fact. But it’s not necessary that we become addicted to screens, to eating junk food, to wasting time, to cutting social ties, to sinking into pessimism. The pandemic doesn’t exempt us from decisions on how to behave.
Countdown to Chanukah: Healing Light
“What new light has been added to your life?”
On The Rebbe’s 92nd Wedding Anniversary
At the time of the wedding, many already realized this son-in-law would one day be the Rebbe Rayatz's successor.
When It’s Hard…
What difference did it make to Esav whether Yaakov kept the mitzvos or not?
Redeeming Relevance: Esav: The Off the Derekh Patriarch
Rav Hirsch famously criticizes Yitzchak and Rivkah for not educating Esav according to his innate personality, and instead trying to force him to be like Ya’akov. His insight is meant to teach that while it was Esav that made the choice to go ‘off the derekh,’ there is always much that parents can try to do before that happens.
My Favorite Verse
The revolution of Yitzchak is different – not to rebel, but to toe the line, to continue the tradition, to dig the same wells.
Decision To Arrest The Schneerson Rabbanim
It is said of our ancestor Avraham that he didn’t seek to serve Hashem with mesiras nefesh, yet, when it was required of him, he was ready to give up everything for Hashem’s sake.
What Heartfelt Prayers Can Do
According to a familiar adage of Vishnitzer chassidim, a tear shed during prayer is more powerful than many fasts.
Parshat Va-Yetzei: When They Go Low, Sometimes It’s Ok to Go Low
This week’s parsha is one place to see other valid options for how to deal with the underhanded. Know when to take the high-road; know when to go low
Stay Focused – A Tip From Angels
If we are learning Torah at a particular moment, then that is our mission at that moment, without allowance for any distractions.
Toledot: Jewish Genealogy
Jews the world over can pride themselves in their descent from such moral pillars as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (and Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah).
We Always Have a Choice
Every person has the free will to use his traits to become a tzaddik or a rasha.
TORAH SHORTS: A Tale of Bitter Rivalry: Parshat Toldot
Enemies' promises were made to be broken. -Aesop
Secret Soviet Interrogations (Part VI)
This story illustrates the Rebbe Rayatz’s prophetic vision because, during the Holocaust, Rabbi Zalman Schneerson saved hundreds of Jewish families and children in France from the Nazis.
Redeeming Relevance: Parshat Toldot: Switching the Land On and Off
Being bound on Mount Moriah gave Yitzchak a connection with God that would be disturbed by living outside the Land of Israel.
Can’t Move, But Happier Than Ever Before
In light of the fact that 25 years ago the doctors predicted that I would live only 3-5 years, I am glad to still be alive.
Secret Soviet Interrogations (Part V)
Together with my sister, Nechama Purishinskaya, who lived in Vitebsk, I obtained flour from various people, baked bread, and delivered it to the yeshiva. Zalman Kurnitzer [the yeshiva’s dean] paid me money for the bread.”
The Forgotten Benefits of Serving a Patriarch
Eliezer’s prominence in this week’s parsha reminds us of a lesson too often forgotten, too many times ending up embarrassing the cause of Torah and service of Gd: our associates shape us, turn us into the people we become.
Empowered To Face The Day
Avraham had to prove that he wouldn’t regret his achievement at Har HaMoriah.
Does Hashem Make Mistakes?
While visiting Avraham, Hashem saw that he was unhappy without guests, so He sent three angels disguised as desert nomads to provide Avraham with the opportunity to do hachnasas orchim.
Leading To Another Mitzvah
The Gur Aryeh, Devarim 22:9, holds that when a mitzvah is done, the mitzvah that follows is similar to the original mitzvah.
How Can You Change?
The single good character trait is our continued attempt at self-improvement, the attempt to elevate morality over nature.
Secret Soviet Interrogations (Part IV)
Despite the investigator’s sophisticated pressure, Kagan almost never specified family names and addresses demanded of him, and those whose names he did give, apparently could no longer be found.
An Unusual Test
The Medrash Rabbah that says that Avraham Avinu asked Hashem to swear to him that He wouldn’t test him or his son, Yitzchak, any further.
TORAH SHORTS: Parshat Vayera: Sacrifice
For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice -- no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service. -John Burroughs