Lesser Of Two Evils
Why do we allow a Jew to shecht on Shabbos when there are other ways of providing the ill person with meat?
How Did Eisav Sell The Bechorah?
We learn in this week’s parshah of Eisav’s sale of his birthright to Yaakov Avinu. There are several questions surrounding the legitimacy of this sale. The Rivash (Teshuvos 328) questions why the sale was valid, since Eisav sold something that did not exist at that time. The halacha is that one may not sell anything that is not in the world at the time of the sale. Since the bechor did not yet exist or take effect at that time, how could the sale have been valid?
Impossible Reality
The Sfat Emet explains that reality is malleable, and that the shaper of reality is...Humanity
I am More than Me, Myself, and I
The concept of “Beshert" in life
Returning A Lost Object
In this week’s parshah the Torah discusses the halachos of hashavas aveidah (returning a lost object). The Gemara in Baba Metzia 27b derives from the pasuk in this week’s parshah, which says that one who finds a lost object should hold it until he is derosh acheichah, that the finder must investigate whether the man who claims that the lost object is his is being truthful. The Torah accepts simanim (signs) that one can provide as proof that the object is indeed his.
Why Women Are Obligated To Build The Beis HaMikdash
The Rambam, in Hilchos Beis Habechirah 1:12, derives from the pasuk in this week’s parshah, “u’veyom hakim es haMishkan… – and on the day the Mishkan was set up…” (Bamidbar 9:15), that the Beis HaMikdash can only be built by day, not by night. Further in that halacha the Rambam writes that both men and women are obligated in the mitzvah of building the Beis HaMikdash. The Kesef Mishneh explains that the source for the halacha that women are obligated in this mitzvah is from the pasuk in parshas Vayakhel: “v’kol ishah chachmas lev beyada tavu – and every wise-hearted woman spun with her hands.”
TORAH SHORTS: Parshat Shelach
Clothes make the human: "Modesty is the conscience of the body." Honore de Balzac
Selichot!
Do you know how to be thankful for what you have and to rejoice in it?
Lessons Learned
Unfortunately, the new world that Adam attempted to start through Seth became corrupted.
May A Kohen’s Pregnant Wife Enter A Cemetery?
On the other hand, perhaps the fetus she is carrying is a male, and she is obligated to ensure that he does not become tamei.
Warning: Lashon Hara Kills
They have heard many shmuzin discussing the severity of this issue, and they don’t question it.
The Day The Rebbe Shocked His Chassidim
Great is charity, for it brings closer the Geulah.
A Rabbi, A Disability, An Inspiration
When G-d takes something from the body, he gives something else in its place. True, I am physically disabled, but I learn quickly and my memory is very good.
Lighting Until The Flame Rises On Its Own
Initially, we have the task of simply lighting a fire. To educate, to explain, to pay close attention and to inspire.
Are Women Obligated to Daven Musaf?
Why would the exemption of women from donating the half shekel exempt them from davening Musaf?
Who Is Worthy To Build The Mishkan?
It is possible to teach a child a Divine crash course in metalwork or stone masonry overnight, but you cannot give a crash course in childlike innocence.
Be Straight – Parshat Re’eh
This is the way Hashem wants us to serve Him, not just according to the letter of the law, but beyond that, out of love, and not only because we are obligated and commanded to.
Torah Shorts: Parshat Bamidbar: Tribal Wisdom, Humility, Courage, and Wealth
History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are but, more importantly, what they must be. -John Henrik Clarke
TORAH SHORTS: Parshat Chayei Sara: Instant Divine Gratification
A prayer in its simplest definition is merely a wish turned Godward. -Phillips Brooks
Parshat Vayakheil
It is not enough to assemble one's people in one place. There must be a unifying mission.
Idol Talk
The reference was absolutely intended to lure unsuspecting individuals to foreign worship, a practice that dated back to biblical times.
On Seeing God’s Back
One of the most extraordinary images in the Torah appears in this week's portion. Moshe requests of God: "Show me your glory." God responds that He cannot be seen by any human being. But, God tells Moshe, "Stand in the cleft of the rock” and "you will see My back, but My face must not be seen" (Exodus 33: 17-23). What does this mean?
Beginning Of Redemption
Certainly, Hashem has the power, if He wills it, to bring about redemption in a sudden fashion, as He did in Mitzrayim. However, if after our many centuries of exile we are still not worthy of redemption in our own merit, there are natural processes at work in the universe that will bring it about inevitably.
Mirrors
Reflections on "mirror images"
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh – Parshat Ki Tisa
So, obviously, Hashem does not have a face and all the above descriptions are simply metaphors to simplify concepts to enable our human intellect to understand, even though the true reality is beyond our comprehension.
Moshe, The Stutterer
"Moshe's life is inspiring and reassuring to children with learning disabilities and to their parents
Secret Soviet Interrogations (Part I)
Even those never arrested lived lives of constant fear and privation, deprived of basic necessities, often losing close relatives to arrest, exile, and summary execution.
The Dream in the Flame
Like Yosef, the Chashmonaim were dreamers. Chanukah is the story of dreamers: defeating a mighty army, recapturing and rededicating the Temple, finding a single jar of ritually pure oil in the rubble
Hearing Within the Darkness
On a national scale, one day, we will see how centuries of tragedy were actually bringing us closer and closer to our ultimate destination, similarly, on a personal level, the same is true for each of us;
Shade Of Faith
A person only receives the amount of parnassah that was proclaimed for him in Heaven.