Torah

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

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

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.

Some people are returning to shul after enjoying casual porch minyanim and are bringing the cavalier attitude they had on their porches with them.

One can recognize a gadol, a leader of our people, in how that person respects and values all people. A gadol doesn’t judge or offer a disparaging word against people who are not religious, nor does he degrade a non-Jew.

We’re expected to take massive precautions when it comes to chillul Hashem. In our world of instant viral media, we cannot afford to make a misstep when it comes to misbehaving in the eyes of the non-Jews.

The meraglim were worried about losing their elevated stature upon entering Eretz Yisrael and thus said the chances of conquering the land were low.

Or the shul rabbanim who find their source of income dwindling but must still feed their families.

The greatness of man manifests itself in his inner contradiction, in his dialectical nature, in his being single and unrelated to anyone, as well as in his being thou-related and belonging to a community structure.

Enthusiasm and delight are contagious. If we are excited to study Torah and do mitzvos, so will our children.

Introspection is good! Teshuva is good! But to blame anyone is downright sinful. Only G-d judges people. We don’t have that right.

It is in our DNA to valiantly risk everything to congregate together to talk to Hashem... But then came Covid-19 and we had to make a huge adjustment in our behavior.

One important lesson that several positive psychologists make is that relentlessly pursuing happiness usually does not lead to happiness.

Remember, Moshe Rabbeinu, David HaMelech, Avraham Avinu, as well as Yaakov Avinu all opted to be shepherds so they could have time to be alone and contemplate. It’s a lost art.

I started keeping such a diary recently and found doing so truly fascinating.

Oneg is a spiritual pleasure, which doesn’t completely negate pain, but alleviates it by infusing meaning.

Let us take encouragement from the way Hashem responds to Aharon in reminding us that our children have the right to make their own decisions, and we are not to be blamed for these decisions.

Haman assassinated Daniel, one of the great gedolei ha'dor, and it's very likely that his death atoned for the nation.

They were taught that a congregation can only pray for relief from one disaster. Which one should they pray for G-d to stop: the plague or the famine?

How do we defeat a yetzer hara that has the power to make us believe that aveiros are really missions of righteousness?

If it was beyond Moshe Rabbeinu’s comprehension, it is certainly beyond ours. We do know, though, that the passing of a tzadik, lo alenu, sometimes serves as atonement for many other people.

Rashi, quoting the midrash, takes the discussion in another direction by noting that “asher” doubles as an allusion to “ashrei,” meaning happy, praiseworthy, or fortunate.

Now is not the time to be talking disparagingly about Torah leaders, roshei yeshiva, and rabbanim.

We feel so fragile and minute, as the entire world is sent into literally a total state of panic and frenzy.

The media has succeeded in whipping us into a frenzy. I heard someone suggest humorously that we should quarantine the media for 14 days.

While Shabbat is in theory emblematic of tranquility, it often does not translate well into practice.

Those who don’t own smartphones, in contrast, are mostly living their lives normally and are surprised at the alarm and fright on others’ faces. They say, “It’s just like the flu, right? What’s all the hype?”

Regardless of which approach we take, it is evident that there is an inherent value in magnifying and glorifying physical beauty as it relates to deeply sacred rituals.

We live in a society where people gauge success by the number of possessions, but we need to realize that flaunting our successes puts us in grave danger.

Why was it so important for Moshe to enter the Land? Certainly he had accomplished so much during his lifetime for the Jewish people!