Judaism

Changing the Ten Commandments

Why was the wording altered in Va'etchanan?

Weekly Tanya video/lecture

The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life.

The changing of an era, part II: Rav Hutner's disciples

At readers' request below are memories of some of Rabbi Hutner's disciples.

Until the break of dawn

The people of Israel are not afraid of the dawn; because light clarifies things. They seem alone, but G-d is with them.

Tisha B’Av; Why mourn?

Laws of Tisha B’Av postponed to Sunday

This year the fast is on Sunday although the 9th of Av is on Shabbat. Here is how to keep the laws in this situation.

Tisha B’Av: A Moed?

How can such a tragic day, on which five calamities occurred, culminating in the Destruction itself, be called a mo’ed?

Devarim: Right versus Might

Israel's first Chief Rabbi's prescient words: There are nations addicted to brute force and aggression and It becomes part of their pshyche.

Halakhot for greeting the Mashiach if he comes this Sunday

We do not know exactly how the Redemption will come about and in what order things will occur, but let us be prepared!

Devarim: Don’t listen to me – listen to Moshe

The Torah wasn’t given to be kept in Sinai, nor in Brooklyn or Beverly Hills. The Torah isn’t a “religion” like Buddhism or Christianity,

Halakhot for when the 9th of Av falls on Shabbat - 5782

We do not fast on Shabbat (except for Yom Kippur).This year the 9th of Av is on Shabbat, so we fast Sat. night and Sunday. A primer.

Talking Parsha - Devarim: Moshe is doing us a favor??

Who is talking in the book of Devarim - is it Moshe giving his own speech? Or did Hashem command Moshe to give this speech?

Devarim to Tisha B’Av

The power of derech eretz.- it is impossible to be rude, arrogant, rough and unpleasant while remaining a devoted servant of God.

The house of Hashem

Mourning and yearning for the house built for His people and eventually for the world.

Fasting without fasting

Are there elements of fasting on Shabbat the 9th of Av even though it is forbidden to fast on Shabbat?

Summing up forty years

Moshe communicates a message to the generation in the desert and about to enter an unknown land, and he resonates on for eternity.

The making of a 'rasha'

How a well-intentioned organization became an infamous bloc of nations that blames Israel for all the world's ills.

Unifying Israel, G-d, the Torah, and the Land

It is supremely appropriate that it is precisely during the Three Weeks that we meet up again and become re-united in our Torah-readings.

Raisins and Almonds, mourning and hope

This month we are presented with a foretelling of destruction, but we are also told ”But this do I call to mind, therefore I have hope."

The Changing of an Era: Remembering Rav Yitzchok Hutner's disciples

Inspiration and memory - would that we had the ability to come close to the level of the people written about below.

Rashi's commentary has lessons for life

In these vignettes we learn from Rashi, Savta Rabbanit Bramson, Moshe Rabbeinu and the Farkash family in Monsey.

Will the Temple be built this year?

We mourn and fast, pray and beseech Hashem for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. But what will happen?

Laws for the Nine Days

What is permitted, what is forbidden - when and why.

The accidental murderer

Weekly Torah study - Justice and atonement.

In defense of the Rambam

People say there is no mitzvah to make Aliya today, since the Rambam did not include it on his list of mitzahs.They need to delve deeper.

Why are we focusing on self-esteem?

In all of Jewish literature, one would be hard-pressed to find a single statement glorifying self-esteem. Humility, however, is much lauded.

The purpose of our journey - summing up the Book of Numbers

The Torah reading during the Three Weeks is not happenstance, but the map for a nation's journey to Redemption.

Remembering Israel

Jews cried because they "remembered Zion" - why didn't they remember the bloodshed and suffering inflicted on them instead?

Bloodshed and corruption defile the Land

The alleged corruption revealed in the past few days in Israel should remind us of Torah admonitions about conditions for retaining the land

The 9 Days: A time for rebuilding the world with love

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: We must counter baseless hatred, sinat chinam, with baseless love, ahavat chinam.

Talking Parsha - Massei: Is the murderer running 'to' or 'from'?!

Why does the Torah send an 'accidental' murderer to a city of refuge instead of banning the victim's blood relatives from taking revenge?

Rosh Hodesh Av Torah Essay: Mandated feelings

How can we be commanded by the Torah to feel in a certain way?

A summary of the Halakhot of the Nine Days

This year, the fast falls on Shabbat and is put off for a day, and Sephardi and Ashkenazi observance are almost the same (details below).

Matot-Masei: The crossing of the River Jordan test

How could Bnei Israel show their appreciation of this priceless gift, of the Land Hashem gave them? The answer is easier for olim to do.

Mattot-Masei: The presence of those no longer with us

It is not only Joshua who is leading the Jewish people into the land of Israel, but the Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

Masei: Three stages of Redemption

Standing at the borders of the Holy Land, then and now.

Mattot-Masei: On keeping your promises

Kurt Rothschild was a man of his word. As were the tribes who wished to expand Israel to include land on the eastern bank of the Jordan,

Israeli Rabbis on the subject of aliyah

From Zion the Torah will go forth.

Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Epistle on Repentance

The Tanya compacts four millennia of Jewish wisdom to answer the great personal and existential questions of life.

The Zealots’ methods of action, and the compromise Rabbi Feinstein accepted

​​​​​​​Those who disagreed with Rabbi Feinstein avoided discussing halakha with him, hoping he would retract through threats and boycotts

The heat of summer

The Israelites traversed the desert in the heat of many summers. What gave them the strength for 42 journeys? What can we take from it?

The snake and the Smartphone Family

Interview with the head of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim addresses the hard truth about the smartphone.

The Amoraim's great love for Eretz Yisrael - and the Imrei Emet

Young religious Zionist Torah scholars: 'Davka those Amoraim who made aliya are the ones the Talmud quotes on the deep love of the land.'

The parasha for politicians: 'Whatever he says, he must do'

Just as there is chillul Shabbat or desecrating Shabbat, there is also chillul dibur or desecrating our speech by not doing what we say..

God is on our side

The party of woke progressives made a mockery of the Holy nation in the Holy Land, but nobody gets away with it.

Mattot: Beauteous and Evil

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: Beware of beauty that covers up morally repulsive behavior.

Pinchas: The buck stops here

Weekly Torah Study: Pinchas.

Mattot: Will you stay or will you go?

You will see them with their knitted kipot, M16s over their shoulders, returning from a shiur by the rosh yeshiva, an IDF officer. And you?

What the 17th of Tamuz, the 9th of Av, and the first day of Passover have in common

G-d’s gifts don’t expire. The land did not cease being ours when those nations drove us from the land.

Talking Parsha - Matot: It's ok to not enter THE land?!

When 2.5 tribes ask to remain on the eastern side of the Jordan River, Moshe doesn't get upset that they don't want to enter the Land. Why?

Sefas Tamim: The Emes parasha sheet

The parasha in halakha, mussar, and with words of chizuk .

Mattot: Words are binding

Everything that is uttered from our mouths obligates us to the commitment attached to it.

Pinchas: Why harass the Midianites and not the Moabites?

A selection of rabbinic commentaries on the question.

Parashat Mattot contains a message for Ben Shapiro

In this week’s Torah portion Matot (Israel) we learn that there is a complete way to serve Hashem and an incomplete way.

Modesty, a handshake and a singer's fee

Today’s culture advocates that if someone is famous, then we should seriously consider their opinions in every field.

Mattot (Israel):Do you know what you’re fighting for?

Today in Israel religious soldiers prove to be dedicated fighters. Like the fighters in the parasha, they know what they are fighting for. .