G-d speaks to every soul; One man heard it -- and the rest is history.
The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life. It has revolutionized the way we think about G -d the human soul, the world and our place in it.
We cannot afford to weaken ourselves through unnecessary divisions.
Our patriarchal father taught us that parenting is a blend of respect and love. You can’t smother a grown child with love and micromanage their affairs. You must respect them enough to give them their space. . They have a funny way of showing their love during certain stages of their lives, but they always need it from us.
Even when brothers disagree and even if they live completely different lifestyles, their love must transcend their differences.
Regardless of the candidates or the election outcome, we should recognize and appreciate the profound zechut of possessing the right to vote in our own country.
An in depth study based on known commentaries.
For thousands of years, our mother Rachel has accompanied us through our trials and suffering, but ultimately, there is hope that the weeping will come to an end.
Matriarch Rachel's life touches the hearts of Jewish women generation after generation no matter where they are.
Abraham’s journey to the Land of Israel transformed his spiritual perception, revealed the land’s holiness and laid the foundations for the Jewish people’s divine mission.
In denial, the French government refuses to read the message: Today's demonstrators in France are marching with Palestinian Arab flags.
More than once I have been asked, “Why is Eretz Yisrael the only thing which interests Religious Zionists? While untrue, it still must be explained.
More importantly, what is the particular mitzva driving the Jewish nation for the last hundred years or so?
Celebrating Aliyah means recognizing the faith and determination involved in the move, including the quiet perseverance that continues years after arrival while being thankful for what olim contribute to the Jewish state.
We should ask ourselves whether we would be able to make a similar journey, for we find ourselves in almost the same position as our forefather Abraham.
We are not God. We do not control the weather, the markets, or the fate of nations. But we have been given a specific domain of power, the ability to choose where our attention rests and how we interpret what happens to us.
The Sefat Emet explains that Hashem's call of Lech Lecha is not directed exclusively to Avraham. It is a call that goes out to everyone, all the time. You just have to be willing to hear it.
Sometimes, the responsible course is to stand firmly on principle. At other times, it is to recognise that cooperation is necessary to protect what matters most.
Creation, Creativity, and the Existential Responsibility of Man.
It’s not enough to read the parasha on Shabbat, but its ideas and lessons should accompany us throughout the week.
The mitzvah of Torah study rests upon parents, who must ensure that their sons learn these fundamentals while they are still young.
While Aliyah involves a journey, it isn’t just about moving to Israel. Instead, it is a rebirth. And just as every birthing experience is unique, so too, every Aliyah story is unique.
Noah and the quiet discipline of change.
Aliyah is a tikun for The Sin of the Spies.
As Israel approaches another election, Noah’s example offers a timeless lesson about righteousness, integrity, and standing firm against corruption, falsehoods, and the pressure to conform.
Each of us must find our own “Noah’s ark" that will provide us with stability and protection in a turbulent world:
Jews outside Israel vs. Jews in Israel on praying for rain.
Noach had a duty not only to prepare for his own survival, but to give others the chance to save themselves. But there would never be enough room for that.
At the present time, we must learn from Noach's failure and from the successes of Avraham our forefather how to benefit one's generation.
It does not seem logical that Jews living in lands whose rainy seasons differ from that of Eretz Yisrael should ask for rain according to the calendar of Eretz Yisrael!
Why do the Sages feel compelled to denigrate Noach?
While the Torah places Noach's Ark on the mountains of Ararat, a closer look at the Rambam and Midrash suggests the ark may have ultimately come to rest near the future site of the Holy Temple.
What sealed humanity’s fate of destruction was that “the earth was corrupted before G-d, and the earth was filled with hamas,"
Although desire is a mere emotion, the Aseret HaDibrot prohibit it when it is misdirected.
‘Once they engaged in robbery - which inevitably leads to disharmony and the separation of hearts - they were called to account also for the severe transgressions they had committed till then.’
The first three first people to exclaim Baruch Hashem, were not part of our covenantal relationship with Hashem.
What lesson can be learned from God’s first words to Adam in the Garden of Eden? They were not about eating from the tree.
Noah survived the world. Abraham changed it.
The exile is finite, measured in time. But its end will show Hashem's endless and unmeasurable mercy.
Halakhot involving grapes due to their use in holy situations.
The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life. It has revolutionized the way we think about G -d the human soul, the world and our place in it. Epistle 24, Class 3.
Everyone should make a list of the people they know and whom they can influence to go to the polling stations and vote.
Neria Dov ben Chana’s mother explains what it means to dedicate Torah learning to someone.
Does the prosaic month of Cheshvan not seem plain compared to Tishrei?
The sweetness of Torah becomes meaningful because human beings can choose something else. Opinion.
The difference between Noach and Avraham Avinu sheds important light on this question.
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's historic essay, "Kol Dodi Dofek" -- The Voice of My Beloved Knocks -- with an explanation of the Six Knockings.
As Albert Einstein famously said: “Coincidence is G-d’s way of remaining anonymous."
Knowing the Torah’s guidance for living obligates men and women equally. Encompassing the entire Torah, commandments that are relevant to the learner’s life and those that are not, and continued study of the Torah in depth, obligates only men.
Our ability to stand against the attacks of terror, falsehood, and wickedness of our Muslim enemies and those who do their bidding lies in the fundamental and basic understanding of the first Rashi of Breishit that “He declared the power of His deeds to His people."
The Creation narrative demonstrates perfectly the dichotomy of the Torah: it is simultaneously the story of one particular nation-the Jewish people-and the story of all humanity.
A simple question for Parashat Bereshit, and how every logical answer to it collapses.
The nations of the world do not accept the Torah and will surely reject our use of it as proof for our rights to the Eretz Yisroel. What is the medrash quoted by Rashi actually telling us?
The danger begins when disagreement changes the way we see the person on the other side. The story of David and Jonathan, read this week, is model for difference between friends.
The highest joy and achievement in life is to find the inner courage to set our own interests aside in the service of another, in the service of a higher purpose.
A century-old debate over shepherding in the Land of Israel takes on new meaning as modern farms combine agriculture, security, and settlement in defending Jewish control of the land.
The Tree of Knowledge gave man the ability to think about how to get what he wanted. The Tree of Life reminds him that there are things he cannot achieve on his own.
The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life. It has revolutionized the way we think about G -d the human soul, the world and our place in it.
Online program based on HaGaon Rabbi Berkovits’ renowned curriculum
