Jewish Practice In The U.S. Military (III)
Dr. Goldman went from testifying as an expert witness to being the defendant. Could it have been because of his yamulke?
Guard Your Influence (III)
How the "Broken Windows Theory" helped solve graffiti on NYC subways and led to a more orderly NYC.
A Spark Of Hope
We sat down for the Shabbat meal at our friends' home in Yerushalayim. The table was beautifully set, but it was the centerpiece - a simple vase bursting with flowers - that caught my eye.
Signals Of Hope
Sometimes Hashem performs tiny miracles that serve only to show His love for us and remind us that He is here with us in our moment of difficulty.
Babel, Then And Now
The Babel story is the 2nd in a 4-act drama that's unmistakably a connecting thread of Bereishit
A Nation Of Storytellers
Torah isn't a theological treatise or a metaphysical system but a series of stories linked over time
A Hug From Heaven
We’ve met the most wonderful, caring people who have helped us and Eli weather this draining challenge.
An Answer To Our Prayers
For the past 10 years, I have been privileged to be part of a women's Tehillim group in Jerusalem. Every Shabbat, we meet and divide Sefer Tehillim (the Book of Psalms). We pray for the safety of our soldiers, for Eretz Yisrael, and for those injured in terrorist attacks. We also bring our individual lists of people in need of Divine assistance. We pray for women waiting to become mothers, for singles waiting to meet their spouses, for sick people waiting for good health, and for soldiers waiting to come home.
Korach: Can We Influence God?
Is it possible for us to influence God?
A Reason For Everything
Yosef * had a dream. He wanted to open a yeshiva for young men like him, men who had returned to their roots and wanted to expand their learning in a relaxed, pastoral atmosphere.
Not Reckoned Among The Nations
Tanach is perhaps the least self-congratulatory national literature in history. Jews chose to record for history their faults, not their virtues.
The Breakfast Of Champions (Conclusion)
Overtime proved to be as tense and white-knuckled as the fourth quarter. Halfway through, New London grabbed a defensive rebound and charging toward their basket when Monona’s forward poked away the ball and broke away. In a slick maneuver he managed to split the defense and went up virtually slamming it to give Monona Grove the lead.
The Tochacha And The Redemption
Achav challenged Eliyahu saying that if Moshe Rabbenu’s promises did not come true, namely those mentioned in the Tochacha, how can those of his disciple, Yehoshua, possibly come true?
Fine Tuning
Every so often I would sit down at the baby grand piano in my childhood home and play a few songs. I had learned enough to play piano on an intermediate level.
A Word Is Worth 100,000 Shekels
The rav was not a wealthy man, but earned enough to live comfortably. He earned his money by serving as the rav of a religious community in Yerushalayim. He also received some royalties from sefarim he had written over the years. He was well known, and many people approached him for a berachah, advice and help. They were not turned away.
Realizations
As we raced from store to store I was invigorated but Jo tagged listlessly along. I pretended not to notice and chatted gaily all the while.
Murphy Comes For Pesach
Consequently instead of receiving the coveted call from the program organizers, we found ourselves fielding one call after another from our own children, eager to join us for Passover in the Promised Land.
Parshat Yitro: Mount Sinai and the Birth of Freedom
With the revelation at Sinai, something unprecedented entered the human horizon...the politics of freedom was born
The Egyptian March Of Folly
There is a fascinating moment in the unfolding story of the plagues that should make us stop and take notice. Seven plagues have now struck Egypt.
The Evils Of Evil Speech
It was the Septuagint, the early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, that translated tzara’at, the condition whose identification and cleansing occupies much of Parshiyot Tazria and Metzora as lepra, giving rise to a long tradition identifying it with leprosy.
First, You Must Listen
Blind obedience is not a virtue in Judaism. God wants us to understand the laws He has commanded us
The Gates Of Righteousness
We live in a world that is often too cruel and unkind. Living in Israel for the last 30 years, I have attended too many funerals for those whose lives were taken through incomprehensible acts of terror. During the years of the second intifada there were many days that I found it impossible to continue teaching, as a student would burst into my classroom and announce that there had been another terrorist attack. How could I just go on with a regular lesson when lives were lost?
The Real Shiurim – They’re Smaller Than You Think
Many believe you need to eat large quantities of matzah and drink a lot of wine to fulfill your chiuv. The truth is much more pleasant than that.
Rebbetzin Yemima’s Remedy For Unblocked Blessing
To add to her distress, this close friend has a lifetime history of complications in her relationship with her mother, her only living parent. Thus, she struggles without the benefit of family support.
The Almighty’s Supreme Call to Man
Could we understand the history of Israel without its prehistory, the stories of Abraham and Sarah and their children?
Tefillin And Teacher
The time was 6:03 a.m., and I was already late for shul. My father had passed away in October of 2008, and I was saying Kaddish for him. Morning prayers began at 6 o'clock. I had to be there within four minutes or miss the rabbinic Kaddish. To worsen matters, I hadn't taken my 3 a.m. Parkinson's medications on time, and I had begun to feel a rise in what I call my "trembling index."
The Space Between Us
Abraham was acting on both occasions--the banishment of Ishmael and the sacrifice of Isaac--against his emotions, his paternal instincts. What is the Torah telling us about the nature of fatherhood?
Expanding Freedom
Despite the Divine anger, the people were not condemned to permanent exile. They simply had to face the fact that their children would achieve what they themselves were not ready for.
Yesh Din
Wanting to help with the maintenance of the building, Chava agreed to be in charge of collecting funds once a year for the upkeep of the roof.
Eternal Israel
Without belief in the covenant, there would be no State of Israel or any significant Jewish history after the Holocaust. Jews kept hope alive; Hope kept the Jewish people alive.
