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The opposite ends of love and joy, to pain and sorrow are great. We tend to live somewhere in the middle between great joy and great pain.

Against all odds, again – since my husband was not religious – I got my wish. Miracle number one.

Yes, in recent months many people have received large sums of money from various government programs and it seems that this may continue for some time. But how long can this last?

So the Torah is a unique combination of nomos and narrative, history and law, the formative experiences of a nation and the way that nation sought to live its collective life so as never to forget the lessons it learned along the way. It brings together vision and detail in a way that has never been surpassed.

Rabbi Pappenheim traces “yehgeh” to the root hey-gimmel, which primarily refers to diligence and consistency, making its derivative “yehgeh” refer to a lion consistently crying.

Since last year around the time of Passover, when all the country closed down for the first time, there was a feeling in the air that something big was going to happen. Many thought perhaps the redemption finally came and we will all be redeemed.

Chava shook her head as if to show she understood, while wondering where this monologue would lead. Was this woman also here for a job interview?!

Who could ever know if learning with disciples was preferable to pursuing self-growth and attaining spiritual perfection at the feet of the generation’s most respected saint?

There are times when you need someone with the courage to stand against the crowd, others when you need a peacemaker.

An apocryphal Midrash describes the colorful sounds made by the animals etched on King Solomon’s throne. Most of these words do not appear in the Bible.

As Jews, no matter what we are experiencing and going through, it’s the Torah and all it entails that keeps us alive and riveted no matter what is happening around us.

Our lives have effectively been upended for many long and fearful months, and the toll in lives lost and disrupted is staggering indeed... And it is sadly not yet over.

The Priest was “holy” and therefore set apart from the people. He had to eat his food in a state of purity, and had to avoid contact with the dead.

Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740-1814) writes that “masveh” and “suto” are related to “stav” (autumn or fall) and refer to soft, spongy fabrics worn to insulate oneself from cold weather.

When I think of Queen Esther I usually feel sad for her. Everyone was saved and she had to stay with Achashverosh.

I finally got it ( I think). It wasn’t enough to know that Hashem runs the world. I have to let go and leave it up to Him.

That, I believe, is what the Sages meant when they said, “Call them not ‘your children’ but ‘your builders’” (Brachot 64a). People have to become builders if they are to grow from childhood to adulthood.

“Pakad” primarily means remembering something or someone in order to deal with it, and the most basic way of dealing with something is to determine whether it’s actually present or not – hence, it means to count.

It felt like the time when the Jewish people left the land of Egypt. There was a terrible plague running wild outside, and inside Hashem was protecting all of His children from the worst of all.

After my last visit, I was heading back home when I noticed a shiny object on the sidewalk. It looked like a hearing aid. My aunt wore hearing aids, and I knew they could be pretty expensive. I picked it up, wondering how I'd be able to find the owner.

Torah means “law.” But it also means “teaching, instruction, guidance,” or more generally, “direction.”

Indeed, the Talmud (Shavuos 26a) exempts a person from punishment if he swore falsely to something that he thought was true.

All the children of Israel make up one great entity of spiritual holiness. Each Jewish soul that lives in this world, no matter what their state of mind or being, makes up the Jewish nation.

I learned to tone down my expectations. All too often, we’ve fallen in with poor buys, bad tenants (or no tenants), unpaid rent and financial losses. Over the years, there have been more complications than I could enumerate.

If secular Jewish groups refused to get involved with the Crown Heights Riots because it was so politically incorrect – “chassidim victimized by African-Americans” – how much more so would the Democrats wish to steer clear?

Israel can learn practical politics from a Midianite but it must learn the limits of politics from G-d Himself.

Rabbi Wertheimer further notes that wings create shade and thus serve as a metaphor for offering protection.

Change throughout the generations are not only on a physical level, but on a spiritual one as well.

I ask only one thing from you. When you have the opportunity to help another person, don't hesitate to do it.

My grandfather loved to show me all his books and would ask me if I was learning as well. He would always tell me a story from the Gemara, and his face would light up as he would tell it.