Judaism


Behaalotecha (Diaspora): “I was filled with dread and I panicked.” Why?

We should never forget that whatever it is we’re doing or saying in life, it’s never totally off the record, because the mic is always on.

Behaalotecha (Diaspora):“I was filled with dread and panicked.”

Shlach (Israel): Stand proud

Tzahal, the most respected institution in Israel, will one day be a holy army, and

Shlach (Israel): Stand proud

Behaalotcha (Diaspora): Live in the moment

The point is for our thoughts about G-d to take over our minds and lead us in directions we did not anticipate.

Behaalotcha (Diaspora): Live in the moment

Peer through the smoke, the message is in the air

The medium is not unlike Mount Sinai engulfed in fire and smoke at the giving of the Torah. Are we being told to go back to that message?

Peer through the smoke, the message is in the air

Career coaching in the parasha:'We looked like grasshoppers to ourselves'

Self-efficacy is a key to achievement. If you don't think much of yourself, how will others will look at you?

Career coaching in the parasha:'We looked like grasshoppers...'

Rabbi Shimshon Rafael HIrsch on the parasha: Moshe and Elitism

Today, we see the people who claim to represent democracy looking down with contempt at the masses. That's an anti-Torah way to act.

Rabbi Shimshon Rafael HIrsch on the parasha: Moshe and Elitism

The true scope of secularism in Israeli religious education graduates and how to change it

The widely cited figures of graduates of the religious education system who become secular are inflated, and stand at less than 20%.

The true scope of secularism in Israeli religious school alumni

The Holocaust and the growth of Jewish Day Schools in America

In Tribute to Rav Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz and Dr. Joseph Kaminetsky, Torah pioneers in America.

The Holocaust and the growth of Jewish Day Schools in America

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.

Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Holy Epistleplayer

Sin of the spies-then and now

Harav Kanievski zt"l: “It is a mitzvah of the Torah to make Aliyah!”

Sin  of the spies-then and now

Monthly Emunah Essay | Walking with your left leg forward

We need the balance of the wins and the failure, the pull to the good and the pull to the bad,

Monthly Emunah Essay | Walking with your left leg forward

A short prayer for Miriam

Israel's first Chief Rabbi: What determined the length of Moses’ prayers? Why did his own sister merit only a brief, one-line prayer?

A short prayer for Miriam

Naso (Diaspora): The Golden Mean and the Nazirite

Is ascetisim what is requested from us?

Naso (Diaspora): The Golden Mean and the Nazirite

Carreer coaching in the Parasha: Lighting the way for the next generation

One must nurture, sometimes nudge, the flickering wick until the flame illuminates on its own. So it is with mentoring.

Carreer coaching in the Parasha|:Mentoring the next generation

Talking Parsha - Beha'alotecha: Who needs to hear you??

Why did Am Yisrael require trumpets for gathering and signaling their departure? How do the trumpets impact our relationship with Hashem?

Talking Parsha - Beha'alotecha: Who needs to hear you??player

An Ode to the survivors

The 3 families of the Levites and the 3 phases of Jewish History.

An Ode to the survivors

Eretz Yisrael in Parashat Behaalotcha: Initiative in battle

Why in Parashat Behaalotcha, trumpets are blown in war, while in Parashat Ki Teitzei victory is not dependent upon blowing the trumpets?

Eretz Yisrael in Parashat Behaalotcha: Initiative in battle

The Torah – a Global Moral Revolution

The Giving of the Torah to Israel rectified an entire world which was subject to slavery, incest, and injustice in law

The Torah – a Global Moral Revolution

Naso (Diaspora): The Kohen's power

When kohanim offer their blessing, they must clear their minds and focus solely on being a channel through whom the blessing flows.

Naso (Diaspora): The Kohen's power

Behaalotcha (Israel): Meet the complainers

Today, as then, there are people who simply have to complain - and those whose gripes are murmured ceaselessly.

Behaalotcha (Israel): Meet the complainers

Behaalotcha (Israel): Beauty and the beast

'Those who are ignorant of Torah despise Torah scholars even more than gentiles hate Jews;' On the anti reilgious protests.

Behaalotcha (Israel): Beauty and the beast

Naso (Diaspora): Why is peace like a suitcase?

Peace contains everything for a good life.

Naso (Diaspora): Why is peace like a suitcase?

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.

Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Holy Epistleplayer

Divine Providence at a funeral

All that was needed was a minyan to say Kaddish...

Divine Providence at a funeral

Redressing [the failure] for seven days

It is difficult for a Jew to leave Mount Sinai, so we try a little longer to stay at the bottom of the mountain.

Redressing [the failure] for seven days

Character as the Center of Gravity

For most, breaking middot is a lifetime of work that never stops.

Character as the Center of Gravity

Body piercing in halakha

Judaism's view of alternations to one's skin, marital loyalty and ascetics.

Body piercing in halakha

How not to honor the dead

Death is the last mitzva; the last rite. It should never be a profit-making business. Op-ed.

How not to honor the dead

Shavuot: Connecting to Torah Study

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:It is axiomatic that the Jewish soul and the Torah are a match made in heaven

Shavuot: Connecting to Torah Study

​​​​​​​The Principles of Eiruv Tavshilin – for Shavuot

In Israel, it is rare to need to prepare Eiruv Tavshilin, but this Shavuot both those of us in the Diaspora and in Israel will be making it.

​​​​​​​The Principles of Eiruv Tavshilin – for Shavuot

Talking Parsha - Nasso and Shavuot: Hashem favors??

How can we implore Hashem to grant us favor when the Torah teaches us that He neither shows favoritism nor accepts bribes?

Talking Parsha - Nasso and Shavuot: Hashem favors??player

Everything there is to know about Shavuot

The entire chapter of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's Peninei Halakha, the comprehensive compendium of Halakha, on Shavuot.

Everything there is to know about Shavuot

Career coaching in the parsha: Naso - All alike or one of a kind?

"Always remember that you are totally unique. Just like everyone else." -- attributed to Margaret Mead

Career coaching in the parsha: All alike or one of a kind?

Shavuot: The Torah and the Land

Shavuot synthesises the Torah and the Land of Israel perfectly: G-d gave us His Torah on this day to keep in the Land of Israel.

Shavuot: The Torah and the Land

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch on the parsha: Floating dust

Parashat Naso contains the laws of the Sotah - a woman suspected of adultery,

Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch on the parsha: Floating dust

Children, please make some noise!

Did our parents brainwash us? And on the tradition to bring all Jew to shul on Shavuos to hear the Ten Commandments read on the holiday.

Children, please make some noise!

Psalm 84: Better than a thousand

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:'The nation as a whole needs God’s house standing...every detail declaring awe and reverence for God.'

Psalm 84: Better than a thousand

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.

Weekly Tanya video/lecture: The Holy Epistleplayer

The gift from Esau and Ishmael: Naaseh veNishma

Ramban:’Had not Israel accepted the Torah, the world would have returned to nothingness, BY ITSELF...’.

The gift from Esau and Ishmael: Naaseh veNishma

Every Jew is a letter in the Torah

But - we sink or swim together, just as a kosher Torah needs all its letters to be kosher.

Every Jew is a letter in the Torah

A natural blessing is preferable to a revealed miracle

As the reliance on miracles rose, calamities approached. Op-

A natural blessing is preferable to a revealed miracle

Shavuot features: The Godless Commandments

The people who least care about religion are the ones who claim to live by the Ten Commandments.

Shavuot features: The Godless Commandments

Rabbi Kook arrives in Jaffa

Iyar 28, this past Friday, is the date Rabbi Kook arrived in the Land of Israel. Jerusalem was liberated 63 years later on that very date.

Rabbi Kook arrives in Jaffa

Wilderness to Civilization -the power of Torah

Civilization is built primarily on values, morality, beliefs, ethics, principles, and attitudes towards human life.

Wilderness to Civilization -the power of Torah

Halakhic analysis: Liability if a laptop is destroyed by a reclining passenger on a flight

Whose fault is it? And who pays? A true story leading to a halakhic debate.

If a laptop is destroyed by a reclining passenger on a flight

How a handful of US rabbis and activists tried to save Jews during the Holocaust

In America, frustration mingled with hope during the Holocaust.

How a handful of US rabbis and activists tried to save Jews

The magic of Chodesh Sivan

What's in a name?

The magic of Chodesh Sivan

Bringing Rome to its knees

Why did Hashem send Rome to throw us into exile? Why are the descendants of Rome our worst enemies to this very day?

Bringing Rome to its knees

Shabbat BeShabbato: Bamidbar and Shavuot

A selection of well-known contemporary commentators on the parasha and the upcoming holiday.

Shabbat BeShabbato: Bamidbar and Shavuot

Count by the number of the names

Each name is a thread in the tapestry that is Am Israel - but why not do the same in parashat Pinchas, a later census?

Count by the number of the names

How could the Jewish people behave this way?

I wonder to myself,,,

How could the Jewish people behave this way?

Bamidbar: Follow the money

Moses counted the Israelites using the half shekel each had donated. Are the Jews just money?

Bamidbar: Follow the money

What is written on the Qassam rockets launched into Sderot?

The line of struggle for Jerusalem does not only cross Jews and non-Jews.

What is written on the Qassam rockets launched into Sderot?

Why give the Torah in a desert, not in a five-star resort?

Who owns Judaism?

Why give the Torah in a desert, not in a five-star resort?

The Parsha and Current Events: Yom Yerushalayim

How quickly we forget 2000 years of galut and the wings of eagles that have carried us home! How quickly we forget!

The Parsha and Current Events: Yom Yerushalayim

Bamidbar: Navigating uncertainty

The Israelites spent a long time in a state of unknowing. They had no first-hand knowledge of where they were going.

Bamidbar: Navigating uncertainty




























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