Sivan Rahav-Meir

If we are learning Torah at a particular moment, then that is our mission at that moment, without allowance for any distractions.

Tu B'Shevat is a reminder once a year of the most important commodities: patience, continued labor, investment, devotion.

This week's parshah teaches us that there is almost no such thing as objectivity. We are all subjective. All of us speak from our own world of values.

Just as there are grieving parents and siblings after someone is killed, in this case there are grieving children – those who will start the school year without their beloved preschool teacher.

Even within large groups, or even within an entire nation, each individual has a special place and a unique mission. Each person is important.

All that's gold does not glitter-in truth

An inspired and inspiring list of "SHOULDS" for Elul--and the whole year

We did not huddle together because of Pharaoh or the Egyptians or the Nazis or any other threat.

The revolution of Yitzchak is different – not to rebel, but to toe the line, to continue the tradition, to dig the same wells.

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai told his students that everything depends on the affability between us. Love and unity and affability are the foundation of everything.

Joseph hinted to his brothers, based on his dreams, what would happen to them, but he did not converse with them.

Freedom is the ability to strive to find the good where no one else sees it. And also to articulate it, with passion.

Moshe relates that people are now coming into the store to talk about the sign, but not to seek an apology.

“We cannot keep the thunder and lightning of Sinai with us, but we can take the spirit of Sinai and incorporate it into mitzvoth – whether we are at the market, at home, in the bank or the car.

The true challenge of our lives, as described in Sefer Devarim, is living with prosperity – in a society where everything is abundantly available.

The nation had nothing to do. There was no mission to accomplish, no sense of urgency, and about this our sages wrote: "Idleness leads to boredeom and boredom leads to sin."

In the Torah portions that we are currently reading, it is noted time and again that as soon as the people arrived at a new place, they immediately erected the Mishkan, the people's spiritual center and beating heart.

Once they asked a wise man to talk about his greatest dream. He answered that he had many dreams and professional aspirations, but above...

To fathom how great Hillel Butman (ZT"L) was, Natan Scharansky looked up to him.

l the parshiyot we read during Elul serve as reminders for how we can fix and improve our lives before the coming new year. The opening verses of each of these parshiyot point toward the direction we should go

To our dismay, the pandemic is a fact. But it’s not necessary that we become addicted to screens, to eating junk food, to wasting time, to cutting social ties, to sinking into pessimism. The pandemic doesn’t exempt us from decisions on how to behave.

Initially, we have the task of simply lighting a fire. To educate, to explain, to pay close attention and to inspire.

Be smart, go 'DUMB'

Some things are hard to accept. The world is supposed to be a good place, mostly wholesome and happy. Yet there are evil acts that ruin everything.

What do we do in the face of this corona that has not disappeared as we expected?

Simjon Rosenfeld, 96 years old, was the last survivor of the Sobibor death camp. In a camp in which 150,000 Jews were murdered, he and his friend managed to kill 11 SS people and escape. Most of the rebels were caught and murdered. Simjon survived, until yesterday.

It's important to recognize that this kind of competition involves a serious investment of time.

Is it better to complain, seek revenge, and hold a grudge? Or is it better to find a blessing within the curse?

The city of Kiel is full of pictures of the menorah and everyone here is excited about its return We have been interviewed by the New York Times, the Guardian, and other media outlets, and now feel that this story is much bigger than us.

I took counsel with my grandfather who has already passed away and with my grandchild who has not yet been born.