News and updates about Mitzva

Why does the firsst mitzva sanctify the moon?

The underlying message of our reckoning by the moon, is that the moon is at times in absolute darkness, without even a sliver of light, yet even at this time, we know that it will soon return.

Why does the firsst mitzva sanctify the moon?

Simchat Torah: When the Torah rejoices

The Torah profits from our joy. As we complete the Torah, the Torah is complete. What can we do to be more complete ourselves?

Simchat Torah: When the Torah rejoices

The morning after

Admitting that we were wrong and that everything we said about another person sprung from our narcissism or insecurity is embarrassing.

The morning after

Can there be charity without poverty?

How will this mitzva survive if we eradicae poverty?

Can there be charity without poverty?

Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha: The Avot and the Land

Young Religious Zionist Torah scholars ask: Why did the Torah tell us that the mitzva of Orla started only when we entered the land?:

Eretz Yisrael in the Parsha: The Avot and the Land

Freeing the mind

It is not so simple to go from bondage to freedom.

Freeing the mind

Are good deeds valid even when we don’t intend to perform them?

How much do we need to concentrate when performing a mitzva?

Are good deeds valid even when we don’t intend to perform them?

Some relevant laws for the mitzva of sitting in the Sukkah

What to do if it rains, who is obligated to eat in the sukkah and what foods obligate eating in it. A primer for the holiday.

Some relevant laws for the mitzva of sitting in the Sukkah

The wondrous mitzva

Read what Torah luminaries say about Hakhel, the next to last mitzva in the Torah: the reasons for it, its timing and its effect

The wondrous mitzva

Clarification of the strict opinion on Conversion

The first mention of cancellation in case of non-observance of mitzvot appears in the ‘Beit Yitzchak’ responsa about a hundred years ago.

Clarification of the strict opinion on Conversion

Do not behave casually with Hashem

Commentators from the Dubnow Maggid to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv on what the sin of behaving casually with Hashem means.

Do not behave casually with Hashem

What Pesach mitzva did the Brisker Rav find the most difficult?

A wondrous midrash provides a clarification and way of looking at a difficult mitzva that we must observe on Pesach but all year as well.

What Pesach mitzva did the Brisker Rav find the most difficult?

Rosh Hodesh Nissan Torah Essay: Taking control of time

Wouldn't the mitzva to love one's neighbor be a suitable first commandment to the Jewish people? Why the establishment of the new month?

Rosh Hodesh Nissan Torah Essay: Taking control of time

Parashat Shmini/Shabbat Parah: So you think you understand?

The deaths of Nadav and Avihu in Parashat Shmini coupled with reading about the Red Heifer - we can neither add to or fathom mitzvot..

Parashat Shmini/Shabbat Parah: So you think you understand?

The Yetzer Hara rejoices when you defeat him

When you do good deeds or refrain from bad ones, the evil inclination is happy for G-d.

The Yetzer Hara rejoices when you defeat him

The centrality of marital intimacy In the Jewish home

The mitzva of marital relations as central to the life of the home is well established in Judaism, while. Christianity minimizes its value.

The centrality of marital intimacy In the Jewish home

Choose one mitzva

Become an expert in one mitzvah and gradually expand to a second, a third, a fourth one, and eventually the total mitzvah-life

Choose one mitzva

Mishpatim: The Chaim Walder double life syndrome

Torah is an all-encompassing circle in which all laws are equidistant from Hashem, as Parashat Mishpatim shows.

Mishpatim: The Chaim Walder double life syndrome

Honoring parents

The reward for honoring one’s parents holds only in Eretz Yisrael; it is not the individual’s length of days, but that of the entire nation.

Honoring parents

What if...

What if Medinat Yisrael would have been established 100 years earlier in 1848, and not 1948?

What if...

Keren Hashana - The Daily Giving Fund

Keren Hashana is The Daily Giving Fund. Make one contribution and get the Mitzvah every single day of the year.

Keren Hashana - The Daily Giving Fund

Open letter to Pope Bergoglio

You gave the rabbis in Italy your word that you would not denigrate “Pharisees” in your sermons but you are doiing it again. Op-ed.

Open letter to Pope Bergoglio

The mitzva the nations mocked

The Red Heifer's meaning is not known, ’It is a decree from Hashem, and we do not question it.’ So how does it atone for the golden calf?

The mitzva the nations mocked

A clarion call to the incoming Knesset of Israel

Recognizing our heritage and customs (Halakha) preserves the integrity and unity of the Jewish people of all levels of observance. Op-ed.

A clarion call to the incoming Knesset of Israel

When a child goes off the 'derech'

A mother writes: "My children's abandoning mitzva observance is eating me up inside. How do I get through this? What should I do, rabbi?"

When a child goes off the 'derech'

Office of the Chief Rabbi

Beshalach: Why should our children and grandchildren do mitzvot?

The Chief Rabbi’s D’var Torah for Parshat Beshalach

Beshalach: Why should our children and grandchildren do mitzvot?

The result of a good deed

Every mitzva you do is alive forever. It hovers in the air, in the atmosphere. And one day its merit might help you - or all of Am Yisrael.

The result of a good deed

Ending the nightmare

Our Father is screaming at us to return. He is making it clear that technology, treaties, and allies will not protect us from this plague.

Ending the nightmare

Are the mitzvot royal decrees, prescriptions for life - or both?

Young Religious Zionist Torah scholars present thought on the Land of Israel: 'The question is not the same in Israel and outside it.'

Are the mitzvot royal decrees, prescriptions for life - or both?

A Torah reading with 76 different commandments!

Our Sages found a pattern in the commandments found in one reading that make up over 12% of all the 613 mitzvot in the Torah.

A Torah reading with 76 different commandments!

The wayward and rebellious son - today's version

The rebellious son does not adhere to the positive or negative mitzvas. What is driving him?

The wayward and rebellious son - today's version

It is all in the details

Moshe’s message to the people is not to see a burden in the details of mitzva observance, because it is there spirituality is to be found.

It is all in the details

The power of a mitzva

Moshe’s fear of Og was not from the physical might of Og, but from Og’s ‘spiritual’ merits

The power of a mitzva

The obligation to immigrate to Israel

Once, living in Israel involved existential and economic danger, so it was not obligatory, but nowadays the mitzvah obligates every Jew.

The obligation to immigrate to Israel

You can live forever

The Talmud tells us that the fulfilment of a mitzvah must never threaten human life. Thus, the Torah forbade gatherings during the lockdown.

You can live forever

Treasure-Stuffed Mattress Brings Out Best in Israelis

Workers at Yad Sarah returned treasure trove found inside donated hospital bed back to family.

Treasure-Stuffed Mattress Brings Out Best in Israelis