Monthly Archives: 7 Av 5785 – July 2025
Perfect Faith
If Tzion is to be redeemed, will her captives not be freed as well?
Parshat Devarim and Tisha B’Av – The Weight of Standing Still
I was taught to make a Kiddush Hashem no matter where I stand; in a parking lot among our own, or as the only Jew in town. Space doesn’t define sanctity. Behavior does. Especially when no one’s watching. Especially when they are.
The Daf Yomi Inspires Us to Advocate for Israel
In a world saturated with the stench of antisemitism, the Gemara puffs a pleasant breath of fresh air.
Rav Kook’s Message for Tisha B’Av 5785
The Churban
“All the Roman commanders who saw the internal conflict among the Jews viewed it as a gift from heaven and urged an immediate...
In Retrospect
As Steve Jobs said in his Stanford commencement speech, You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
An Alef-Bet Mnemonic & A Devarim Breakdown
The whole Book of Devarim takes place in one location – Arvot Moav – over just 37 days.
It’s Never Too Late To Improve
One might wonder how a person like Nevuzardan could be absolved for his many heinous crimes. The answer is that Hashem forgives anyone who is sincere in his repentance.
Mi Ani – Who Am I?
How often do we see suffering before our eyes, but somehow we do not notice what is happening?
Beauty and the Regular-Looking Guy
You see your date’s internal beauty and you are not bothered by a lack of the typical commercial good looks we are taught to value. But you worry that you will be influenced by the subtle judgment you expect from those that know you.
The Letter
How was Yonasan allowed to rebuke his own father, Shaul?
As We Start the Nine Days
How contemporary the Gemara rings when it says the destruction of Yerushalayim puzzled and perplexed the sages, prophets, and angels! It shouldn’t cause us any wonder that we are unable to explain the atrocities of the Holocaust when even prophets and angels were confounded by the similar disasters of yesteryear.
Halachic Living Wills During the 9 Days
We are guardians over our bodies, not their owners.
Laura Ben-David: A Shining Light Who Shined a Light on Others
Laura reinvented herself numerous times. She had careers as, among other things, a preschool teacher, makeup artist, marketer, and, of course, photographer, but no matter how she focused her time, she always stayed true to who she was: a lover of Israel, the Jewish people, justice, and her incredible family.
From Stalin to the Squad: The Long March of Left-Wing Antisemitism
The influential Columbia University professor and Palestinian political activist, Edward Said, characterized Israel’s founding as a manifestation of Western imperialism.
How Einstein’s Fame and Zionism Almost Lead To His Election as President of Israel
The suggestion that Einstein be invited to assume the presidency of the Jewish State was first publicly disseminated by the evening newspaper Maariv. The idea, which spread quickly, became broadly popular...
Trojan Dinasaurs
Psychologically and sociologically, a conspiracy need not involve maniacal villains plotting world control. It can be an unconscious collusion of interests.
Chuck Schumer, Hakim Jeffries and Kathey Hochul’s Derelictions of Duty
It seems that Schumer, Jeffries, and Hochul may be willing to risk being labeled soft on antisemitism since antisemitism appears more and more to be finding a place in the Democratic Party.
Sight, But No Vision: The Sin of the Spies (Part II)
The meraglim not only misunderstood their experience, but they then reported this distortion back to Klal Yisrael.
Word Prompt – IRAN – Hanoch Teller
With individual liberties curtailed, the government felt that it could keep the populace content by promising them the elimination of Israel. We have all witnessed miracles of Biblical proportions as to how matters did not work out this way.
Word Prompt – IRAN – Keshet Starr
When the world feels like it’s falling around us, we can still choose what we do next – because when stimulus comes our way, we can create a space to choose our response.
Word Prompt – IRAN – Lenny Solomon
Iran used to be Persia. The story of Purim. Esther and her son Coresh (Cyrus). It is through them that the second Beit HaMikdash was built. Where are the people that will represent Coresh? Is this the way it is supposed to be at the end of days?
Word Prompt – IRAN – Pesach Lattin
Truth is, we owe a lot to that corner of the world. Without Paras, you don’t get Purim. Without Paras, there’s no megillah in shul, no matanos l’evyonim, no yelling Yimach shemo! at some poor guy dressed as Haman.
Word Prompt – IRAN – Hillel Fuld
Iran was once a modern nation and an ally of the Jewish people. But since the Islamic Revolution, it has been radicalized, leaving its own citizens oppressed and the region destabilized.
Tunneling Out
Though less stringent and with their fated character not having been painfully reinforced over and over again, those other dates do not have an antipode, an escape hatch, if you will, embedded within them as Tisha B’Av does: the consolation that the day holds the potential for – indeed the promise of – total transformation.
How Best Should One Spend The Afternoon Of Tisha B’Av?
A central halachic and emotional theme of the day is to avoid diverting our minds from this national mourning.
Reconnecting to Tisha B’Av
My parents were very makpid about the Three Weeks, particularly my father. He did not allow us to go on any unnecessary outings starting from Shiva Asar B’Tammuz, and even once we were grown and out of the house, he would keep tabs on all of us, reminding us that the period of Bein HaMitzorim was a dangerous time.
Unnatural Living
There’s a limit to how long a person can survive when he is outside of his natural element. When the earthly provisions are depleted, it isn’t long before he will die, unless he returns to a natural earthly environment.
Putting Teeth in the Fight Against Antisemitism on Campus
The Columbia agreement prohibits programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes in student admissions and faculty hiring.
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