Young religious Zionist Torah scholars find connections between the Torah reading and the Land of Israel.
So often, we feel that the only predictable element of what’s happening in the world is its unpredictability.
The prophetic message of the Return to Zion in the Haftorah we read could have been tailor-made for this Shabbat.
Torah commentators suggest, each according to his world outlook, how one can achieve kedusha - holiness. But there is a common denominator.
Kabbalistic and Hassidic literature delineate the journey of a person counting the Omer.
This Shabbat, the time between Yom Hashoa (Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day) this week, and Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day for IDF soldiers and terror victims), followed immediately by Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day) next week, says everything about the Jewish People.
Unfortunately we are indeed a stubborn people. Without getting repeatedly hit on the head we don’t internalize the message. Must we wait until blood flows on college campuses in America and on the streets of Lakewood and Monsey, New York?
The Torah doesn’t demand the impossible.
We have to hear the voices of all Orthodox rabbis calling for unity.
Rabbi Sacks responds to the devastation of the Holocaust and the oft-asked question: Where was G-d?
What nations like America do when they are attacked.
The Gemara says that “one who says that they have only Torah, lacks even Torah.” What besides Torah does “having Torah” depend upon?
The Holocaust began with propaganda.
If the families of the captives and their supporters had refrained from demonstrations and kept away from the media, the IDF would have already been more successful in breaking the enemy’s spirit.
Constructive and destructive power can both be used for positive purposes.
An explanation that helps us understand the depths of the Torah’s sensitivity to the human psyche and condition. We are still in the throes of every tragedy that befalls the Jewish People, all the more so today.
Young Religious Zionist Torah scholars explain connections between the weekly parsha reading and Eretz Yisrael.
While the practice of Molech is no longer en vogue in today’s world, the metaphoric pillars of fire that youngsters pass would through in worship of this barbaric deity still burn strong in the halls of 'prestigious' universities.
Why regulate meat consumption when it's already permitted for Noah and his descendants and will be permitted when entering the Land of Israel?
The Rambam tells us that the mitzvah of kiddush Hashem is the mitzvah of ‘Kol beit Yisrael’,
People display their religiosity in diverse ways, but perhaps the words "live by them" reveal how God wants us to build an observant life.
Torah truth must permeate a person’s mundane life.
There are two ways to understand this mitzva and both are not easy to perform.
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.
The first Shabbat after Passover we begin reading a chapter a week of Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, a 6-chapter compilation of teachings and wise maxims found in Tractate Nezikin. Introduction and chapter 1.
Zachor means not to be surprised as the nations of the world – including the Unites States – berate, threaten and abandon us in this just war against archetypal evil.
Israel's first chief rabbi explains how sometimes the entire community has to realzie how important it is to give thanks.
Passover confronts the mystery of time head on.
There is a yearning for peace, for tranquility, for an end to the tension and apprehension of the past months.
On the occasion of the 31st Yahrzeit of my beloved rebbe, רבן של ישראל, מו"ר הרה"ג מרן יוסף דוב הלוי סולובייצ'יק זצ"ל.
The historical and psychological meaning of Ezekiel's vision.
In what way are the Jews different than Hamas? It seems that many university students and world leaders cannot answer that simple question.
What is God telling them to do? If they jump into the Re(e)d Sea, they will most likely drown. And if they don't?
We are powerful. We are G-d’s children. We can help ourselves. He does not want us to surrender. Remember, we were freed from Egypt.
Follow in the ways of Avraham Avinu - make sure that every day of our sefira, is truly ‘ours’ - that we have given it content, by serving Hashem.
The Torah and Judaism do not hide from the topic of death and suffering and in fact early on in the Torah lay down the source of the problem in the first place.
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.
Young Religious Zionist Torah scholars connect the Holy Land and the Passover holiday.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslev, quoting Prophets and Psalms as well as the Zohar, explains that the wicked channel their life force from mighty, impure forces that expand outwards for a brief time, following which they are left spent and destroyed.
The Haggadah presents four questions that are really answers presented in typical Jewish fashion. Jews often answer a question with a question, don't they?
The experiences and the commitments of thousands of years are etched into our psyche today and are as relevant and binding as they were as the time that they originally happened.
Israel's first Chief Rabbi: " the true goal of the miracles in Egypt goes far beyond the needs of that generation."
Our Sages instituted the drinking of four cups of wine on the Seder night, so that joy and celebration would accompany all the stages of the Seder.
A series of readings to choose from for your Seder table, offering an opportunity to highlight important themes for Israel and the Jewish people in these challenging times.
"The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind" --Mark Twain.
My annual Pesach essay - always timely - but with a twist for today.
It is actually called The Promist of Liberty Hagaddah, but it is plagued by erroneous assumptions about Judaism's ethos that make it tailor made for continuing the Diaspora.
The legacy of Moses and the Exodus in the Abolitionist anti-slavery movement. Followed by Passover Guide for the Perplexed.
This Passover, discover your true light. 3333 years later, we still remember.
Cosmetics, toothpaste, Passover wafers and cookies, eating quinoa - all the things you need to know for the holiday.
A collection of commentaries on tsaraat of a house. The Alsheich Hakadosh says: This affliction should be considered by us, as a gift from Hashem. Why?
It appears that the ability of the Jews to take the pagan representation of the Egyptian society in full view, and prepare it for sacrifice 4 days later, may have been a greater miracle than anything that had occurred up until that moment.
Private property comes with responsibilities – to others.
What is the significance of the emphasis on curing the tzara'at instead of the person? And how does it connect to the plague of the firstborn, and the seder night itself?
Delve into Rabbi Sacks' digital archive packed with articles, videos, broadcasts and shiurim about Pesach.
What is the purpose of finding chametz that we just hid a few minutes ago? How exactly can we call this procedure a “search for chametz”? The answer is a profound insight into what bedikat chametz really means.
It is a fundamental component of Pesach that the redemption from Egypt – our first national redemption – is the paradigm for the final redemption,
If, back in 1967, you tried to convince someone that what happened last Saturday night would happen, you would have been committed to an asylum. But it did.
Can one eat 'matza ashira,' matza with added ingredients such as fruit juice, on Passover? Can one take his usual medications?
