Parsha

In a famous photo, President John F. Kennedy is seen facing the windows of the Oval Office with his back to the camera. Slightly bent over, with his hands spread out on a credenza, he appears in deep and painful thought. The caption of the picture says it all: “The Loneliest Job.” Only the relatively few people who have been President of the United States truly understand the enormity of the job’s burden. It is for this reason presidents, despite their party affiliation, and often after leaving office, develop close bonds with one another, give the current office holder the benefit of the doubt and make themselves available to whoever may be president at the moment to help and advise.

When Moshe came of age, he went out to visit his brothers, to share in their suffering. What he saw caused him great anguish.

Rav Ovadia said, “So for me it’s permissible, but for you it’s prohibited?”

How can the Da’as Zekeinim say this was Hashem’s plan to allow them to become the Torah Nation? We know it was actually a punishment.

A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward. -Phillips Brooks

In parshas Masei the Torah discusses the halachos regarding when one person accidentally kills another. The Torah says that a relative of the victim (goel hadam) may avenge the death of his relative by killing the murderer who acted accidentally. According to the Torah, the perpetrator must go to one of the arei miklat (city of refuge). While in the ir miklat the goel hadam may not kill the murderer who acted accidentally. If he does kill him while he was in the ir miklat, he will be liable for murder.

That was G-d's original request, that Moshe "please" speak to the people and request that they borrow and share with their own friends - their fellow Jews, and demonstrate fraternity and devotion.

Based on a Naaleh.com shiur by Rebbetzin Shira Smiles.

Perhaps even more perplexing is the fact that we are taught that the only way to earn entry into the rarified grave of the Meoras HaMachpelah is to be one of the elite few who died by misa b’nashika, through the kiss of Hashem.

One can serve with his or her hands or feet, but how does one serve with one's heart?

Even before they were born, Jacob and Esau struggled in the womb. They were destined, it seems, to be eternal adversaries. Not only were they different in character and appearance, they also held different places in their parents’ affections.

The paradoxical truth of a very, very good land--Israel.

Among the many terrible decrees enacted against the Jews during the reign of Nikolai I was the forceful conscription of young Jewish children into the Russian army, its overriding aim being to destroy Jewish life.

The first place that Am Yisrael traveled to after leaving Raamses in Egypt was Sukkot. If we go with this method, that Sukkot was a place, then what was so special about the place Sukkot that warrants us remembering it and celebrating an entire festival around it (according to R’ Akiva)?

Moshe's blessing to the nation of Israel is interesting in that a similar blessing, which Hashem had given Avraham and Yizchak, had already been fulfilled. Rabbi Avigdor Miller, zt”l, observes that among the greastest blessings is abundant offspring, and therefore this blessing was particularly auspicious – even the third time around.

No matter how hard we work on ourselves, we can never be totally prepared for the challenges ahead. And that is actually a good thing. Not only would life be less interesting, but a great deal of its meaning would otherwise be taken away. As Rebbe Nachman said, “If you are not a better person tomorrow than you are today, what need have you for a tomorrow?”

Every act that a person does makes an impact on the world, whether good or otherwise.

On the one hand, the sentence is to be publicized, but on the other hand the publicity should be tempered.

Many commentators wonder why not proffering bread and water is considered such a great crime. Because turning away goes from being a sign of neutrality to being an act of hostility.

While our leaders have been shepherds, the vast majority of the Children of Israel were farmers.

Bald spots and disunity.

I would like to conjecture that in this fervent prayer where we beseech Hashem to listen and to understand, to learn and to teach His Torah, we remember the fact that each of us already learned the entire Torah from a malach during the nine months that we were in the womb.

Yaakov Avinu wanted to see what kind of life Yosef was living, and he knew that if he saw Yosef face to face he would immediately know whether his spiritual being still lived.

At the time of the wedding, many already realized this son-in-law would one day be the Rebbe Rayatz's successor.

The comfort and chizuk these wives offered their husbands, uplifting their morale, did not escape our all-seeing Father in heaven.

For most of the nations of the world, the laws governing interactions between people are conventions set up by citizens to enable their society to function. They are bereft of any Divine influence. However, such laws within a Jewish society are very much religious laws as well. To demonstrate this point the Sanhedrin, which was ultimately responsible for all legal aspects of society, was housed in the Temple. By being there it was made clear to all that, for Jewish society, the interpersonal societal laws were Divine in origin, just as the ritual laws were.

The Jews living outside Eretz Yisrael began reciting vesein tal u’matar in the Shemoneh Esrei this week. If one does not say vesein tal u’matar (instead continuing to say “vesein berachah”) and finishes the Shemoneh Esrei, he must repeat the Shemoneh Esrei. If one accidentally does not daven at all, he must daven two Shemoneh Esreis during the following tefillah. If one did not say vesein tal u’matar and finished davening and only remembers this fact at the time of the next tefillah, he must daven two Shemoneh Esreis at the next tefillah.

Each mitzvah and each holiday is a guide and a map

The Rebbe wasn’t worrying about Lubavitcher chassidim, chassidim in general, or even observant Jews – he was worrying about one Jew who may be isolated from Torah in one corner of the world!

Their assumption was predicated on the theory that Hashem operates based on middas hadin.