In times of turmoil, we turn to ancient words of hope, to visions of a world where peace is not just a fleeting wish but a lived reality.
Moshe's supplications, although rejected, bear a deeper message on how the change in leadership will affect the way the Shechinah is revealed.
You don’t have to listen to me. Listen to Moshe. Listen to the roaring echo of his words, resounding out today over the anti-Semitic prairies and cities of America. Come home and keep the Torah as it should be kept!
This Sin of the Spies continues today on the part of people who spend their days criticizing Israel all over the media. “This is no good, and that’s no good, and this is immoral, and that is unjust, and this is like the Nazis, and that is Messianic, and this is leading the country to destruction…” ad infinitum.
Why did R. Shimon ben Gamliel say that there were no days more joyous than Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur?
This is the time to study - not just read, but to study in depth - the messages of the 9th of Av, of Parashat Va-et’chanan, and of Haftarat Nachamu.
How does prayer work?
Drashot Even Shoiv (Parshas Vaetchanan) states that we should treat Shabbat Nachamu like a Yom Tov, so go out and get special treats!
The Torah says “Do not add to the matter that I command you, and do not detract from it; to guard the commandments of Hashem your G-d that I command you”, so how do we relate to the teachings of our sages?
In this week’s Haftorah of “Nachamu,” the prophet Isaiah sets forth the prophecies of Redemption, may it be soon.
“There were never such good days for Israel as Tu B’Av (the fifteenth of the month of Av) and Yom Kippur” (Ta’anit 26b).
When Ruth walked alone and Reb Leivik danced alone. And in between on the time line, the Pachas-Moab family kept the Temple fires burning.
How are Shabbat Nachamu, Tu B’av, and Parashat Vaetchanan all intertwined?
Moses finally realized that the best thing for him was to let go.
Why all the repetition?
Begun? Why does Moshe Rabbeinu use that verb after all the miracles of the Exodus and the sojourn in the desert?
The killing of deadly animals in Israel raises a halachic question: can or should an animal that killed a person be killed today?
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.
Hashem responds to sentiments, not just words.
Sometimes, we may have fallen deeply in love with someone who is just “unsuitable” for us. The feeling can be so compelling that we might rush into a disastrous marriage simply because we cannot see beyond our fantasies.
God designed a physical world that deceives us into thinking that what we see is the only real thing, and many times, the fact that we have no room for others is a limitation. That comes to the fore in quantum physics as well.
The world's media are thick with hatred for Jews and Israel. Many students are weathering this storm by holding fast to their Jewish identity and community.
Do two archaeological discoveries possibly prove Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l’s position on the "amah"?
For the past several years, I’ve observed that the most difficult struggles in life are the ones we talk least about. There is the battle of truly conquering oneself. The battle of refinement. The struggle through daily tests and challenges.
Except for Hassidim, each ethnic, cultural, or geographic group living in Israel today has made some adjustments in diet, language, community, and climate, to adjust to living in an Israeli/Middle East environment.
Our persecution will not cease until we start admitting and living by the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. A list of 10 lies we need to switch for truth.
Rav Kook viewed Jewish infighting in Eretz Yisrael as a greater desecration than exile itself. “Let us come to know one another under the inclusive name Yisrael, not by factional or partisan titles,” he implored.
Though Israel was defeated in its battle against the legions of Rome, it was a magnificent and inspiring defeat, a defeat which ultimately destroyed the Roman Empire.
When cracks appear in your life, surrender to the new light.
Join the OU on a powerful journey through Jerusalem's holiest sites as it uncovers the deeper meaning of Tisha B’Av—not only as a day of reflection, but as a vision for the future of Am Yisrael.
Proof that this day is a day marked for geulah is that the day of Tisha B’Av always falls on the same day of the week as the first day of Pesach. On Tisha B’Av we were spared and reborn.
From sunset until the time of the departure of Shabbat is a time shared by Shabbat and the fast. Before sunset one stops eating and drinking.
Major tragic events that happened to the Jewish people either happened on Tisha B’Av, or had roots on Tisha B'Aav.
The question צָפִיתָ לַיְּשׁוּעָה? Did you anticipate Redemption? is an important measure of one’s life.
We must rectify the sin of the Spies and of the Generation of the Wilderness by cancelling the cause of our ancestors’ baseless weeping. We must increase love and faith, instilling in our hearts that God truly loves us.
The Book of Devarim is not a repetition, it is an explanation of Torah in the Land, and its first lesson is that those who think Torah and military are two separate realms, must realize that the emergence of the Jewish People involves both.
The spectre of churban continues to haunt the land.
Instead of trusting G-d, they sent the spies and the rest is history.
There is no doubt that courage and valor are tied to inheriting the Land.
The Book of Devarim teaches us about the importance of rebuke and the attitude we must assume toward it.
The pendulum of Jewish fate swings very swiftly from one extreme to the other.
The Nine Days, and Tisha B'Av in particular, are days in which we can reflect on our connection with the other citizens of Israel and Jews around the world.
Every nation receives its inheritance - no matter the military odds.
From the days of the early halakhic authorities, Jewish communities refrained from eating meat and drinking wine during the days of mourning over the Temples' destruction.
A comprehensive overview of the persecution, scholarship, and expulsion of the Jews of Spain.
The Prohibition of Wool and Linen Mixtures: Tradition and Modern Theories.
The teachings of the Arizal are considered on the same level as the Zohar. The great halakhic codifier, the “Magen Avraham,” takes the Arizal’s personal customs as legally binding precedents.
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.
Rashi wants to teach us that without Eretz Yisrael there is no Torah, no Am Yisrael, nor Sanctification of Hashem in the world.
I am already reciting Kinot with every headline, every funeral, every fallen soldier. Opinion.
Yosef Mendelevich: “The freedom fighters in Soviet Russia were like trees, standing tall and not bowing down. That’s how the idea came to me to create a forest for the Prisoners of Zion." It was dedicated last week.
What a heretic learnt in the Court of the Maggid about self-esteem.
The Torah emphasizes the profound power and responsibility of speech through the laws of nedarim, teaching us that individuals have the ability to create with their words and reflecting a deep connection between speech, commitment, & responsibility.
3,297 years ago, before despatching the Children of Israel on their war of vengeance against Midian, G-d infused them with the spiritual reinforcements necessary for victory - their national identity, their sense of history, their understanding of their destiny. So too, the Religious Zionist soldiers today.
‘Our Sages comment, that because Reuben and Gad were so attached to their wealth, till they were prepared to settle outside the land, they were the exiled from it, before the other tribes.'
At the end of the day, even if sanctions and other measures are introduced, we all know that no one will be shot at while delving over a complicated issue in the Gemara.
The question asked in Jeremiah is answered "Because they have forsaken my Torah" - what does that mean? Didn't they study Torah before the destruction of the Temples? Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda explains.
Ancient warnings for a modern crisis.
Thanks to the daughters of Tzelophechad, all the Israelite women chose to dwell in the Land of Israel. They did not take part in the Sin of the Spies.
