How God turns nations around, saving the Jews from annihilation
The Allies in WWII Series: Part I, British and French appeasement of Nazi Germany.
Eight thoughts for eight nights (1)
Inspired by faith, we can change the world.
Judaism (Page 51)
World Cup on Hanukkah:
Rabbi Vered: 'Tonight is a special opportunity for soccer fans'
Rabbi Eyal Vered is calling on soccer fans to light Hannukah candles on time and prove that G-d comes first.
1st night of Hanukkah:
The laws and blessings for lighting the menorah
On Sunday evening Jews around the world will light the first light of Hanukkah.
Faith in our children - and the first night of Hanukkah
Let them know we believe in them and that will give them strength and will power. Sometimes we need that too.
Dreams and shadows, light and darkness
Each candle, lit by the same source, will burn differently, according to its nature, as we, unique in our nature, our paths, our lives.
The laws of lighting Hanukkah Candles
Where to place the Hanukiya, what to do at large events. what to do at family gatherings - and more.
The Rabbis are worried:
The World Cup instead of Hanukkah candles
Rabbi Meir Mazuz and additional rabbis published a letter asking not to postpone lighting candles to watch the game.
Vayeshev: The conflict between Joseph and Judah
Israel's first Chief Rabbi: "Is there a connection between the story of Joseph and the holiday that falls out this time of year, Hanukkah?"
The Parsha and Current Events: Be on the winning side!
It is not easy to be a Jacob in a world of Esaus but it is the Jacobs who will survive and guarantee the eternal existence of Am Yisrael.
Vayeshev: Error after error
There is no wisdom nor counsel, not in Yaakov, nor in Yosef Hatzadik, nor in his brothers, in this parasha. What is really happening?
Should we psychoanalyze Joseph and his brothers?
Even those who are observant and scholarly sometimes insert currently faddish values and interpretations into the Torah's eternal words.
A robe too far
Why was it this luxurious robe, rather than anything else, that so aroused Joseph's brothers’ ire?
Parashat Vayeshev:
Why is Yehuda's story relevant now?
Just as Yosef's story picks up with the drama of selling him to Egypt, the Torah turns to Yehuda. Why is Yehuda's story even relevant?
Wait For It: Parshat Vayeshev
The midrash says hold fast to your conviction and strategy until it’s the right time.
Parshat Vayeshev: Between Destiny and Decisions
Pulsating under the many episodes of this week's sedra is the inevitable tension in human life between free choice and preordained destiny.
Eretz Yisrael in the Parasha: Vayeshev
Religious Zionist Torah scholars connect the week's reading with the Holy Land: Why was it important for the Patriarchs to settle the land?
Joseph, Hanukkah and a dreidl made of clay
Joseph gave the Maccabees a model for never giving up. And a menorah of clay symbolizes just the opposite.
To be ‘shomer mitzvot’ does not mean to keep mitzvot!
To be ‘oseh mitzvot’ of course means to fulfil the mitzvot, but from here we learn a very relevant and important lesson for us today.
Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Holy Epistle
The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life.
Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch on the parasha: How could they?
How could Yaakov’s sons have been so cruel?
Gid Hanasheh – The connection between Spirit and Action
The struggle between Jacob and the angel is a struggle between a world of narrow interests and one where faith is the driving force
The Influence of European, US and Israeli Yeshivas on S. Africa
Concluding article of a historical series on South African Jewry.
The wisdom of Rabbi Nachman in the battle against Jew-hatred
The antisemitism of expedience vs. that of insanity.
The "everything" blessing: Shehakol
Hagit Rein, whose son fell in Lebanon - his story can be read on a lookout over northern Israel - wrote Rabbi Lundin about this blessing.
Kanye West - behind the curtain
Like with Balaam's ass, the Almighty opened the rapper’s mouth and put the words in his throat - for a reason.
Modern Orthodoxy is facing a long term existential threat
The Modern Orthodox-Lite component is the most endangered.. Reactions to Avi Ciment’s “The Modern Orthodox Conundrum.”
Vayishlach: Jacob's journey to holistic living
Israel's first Chief Rabbi explains the verse that says that Yaakov 'arrived whole to the city of Shechem', returning jto his homeland.
The Torah of Leadership (Vayishlach): The Gift
When Esau said to Jacob, “I have enough,” was he rejecting Jacob’s gifts or was there a deeper message?
The Parsha and Current Events: Halakhic Marriage
Questions: What is the source in the written Torah for the two stages of marrying a couple and for the interlude between them?
Parshat Vayishlach:
We can't eat "Yaakov's leg"?
What's so significant about Yaakov's injury? And why is it so significant that we refrain from eating a certain animal part because of it?
Vayishlach: Brothers in arms
Were Shimon and Levi really outraged idealists? Or were they just hotheaded vigilantes?
Vayishlach: Ask an American Rabbi
Jacob could have saved himself a lot of trouble had he stayed put in Laban's house.
Help us to learn from our enemies
Learn from them but not from their evil deeds, as Jacob testified about himself. But what could he learn from the wicked Laban?.
What is the best way to describe God?
Whose G-d is He? How can we know?
Vayishlach: G-d Is In our corner
Sometimes it feels as if Murphy’s Law is G-d’s Law. But that's not so.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch: Does Esau still hate Jacob?
When Esav meets Yaakov, a part of him acknowledges the superiority of Yaakov’s path in life. But does he continue to hate his brother?
Vayishlach: Jacob has nowhere to run
Jacob, who barely escapes from the treachery of Lavan, soon finds himself confronted by the deadly mob of his brother Esav.
The character of the Gaon Rabbi Shamai Ginzburg (1905-1997)
Rabbi Shamai Ginzburg, one of the heroes of the Vienna conversion affair, was a Gur Hasid and an avid Zionist.
Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Holy Epistle
The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life.
Rabbi of war and peace: Chief Rabbi B. M. Casper of South Africa
He was a military and spiritual leader of the Jewish Brigade, a main nucleus of the reborn modern Israel’s Israel Defense Force,
Bill Gates and charity
What is the best way to give charity, who should it be given to and how much should be given?
The Jewish way of thinking is qualitative
Studying the holy has different goals than studying the secular.
How to get angelic protection
When a Jew leaves Israel: there is an interim when he has no Divine protection. When he comes, he is escorted by the angels of the land.
Whence comes strength
We all have hidden powers, as Jacob discovered when he found the strength to lift the rock from the well for Rachel.
Behold it was Leah!
As Jacob's first marriage was based on ‘mistaken belief’, should it not have been deemed invalid?
What kind of country is this?
Thoughts about Israel, symbols, thanking G-d and not missing our on holiness - to start your week.
Vayetze: The blessing of a scholar's presence
The presence of a Torah scholar radiates holiness to his surroundings.
Vayetze: Appeasement vs. Confrontation
Jacob has a dual mode of action. In the galut, the Jewish people made use of one, but in their own land, they can choose the other.
The parasha and Eretz Yisrael: Why two kinds of angels?
Religious Zionist Torah scholars on the connection between this week's Torah reading and the Land of Israel.
Talking Parsha - Vayetze: Yaakov is running away again?!
Yaakov has to escape again - from Lavan’s home back to the Land of Israel. Why is it so important for him to escape & not leave peacefully?
Parshat Vayetze: Leadership dreaming
We can only truly understand Jacob's dream if we travel with him after the dream. And hold on to our own dreams.
The Dream Government
Jews dream of "a ladder set on the ground and its top reaching to the heavens.".
Understanding Yaakov through colors
Let's refer to Esau as red, and to Lavan as (how predictable...) white.
Vayetse: You can only win the lottery if you buy a ticket
“Open for me just the space of the eye of a needle and I will expand that to be the space of an entire hall.”
Vengeance in Psalms
How is it that there are such vengeful verses in the Book of Psalms?
The end of the Vienna Conversion Affair
Close to the decisive meeting on the issue, Rabbi Unterman was put under tremendous pressure by extremists not to accept the conversions..
Esau hates Jacob
It is axiomatic, says the Talmud, that Esau hates Jacob. That has not changed.
What I learned from “The South African Jewish Year Book 1929”
Tales of thousands of good Jews who, while not as religious as their parents had been, gave charity and created a model Jewish community.
Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Holy Epistle
The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life.