Why Bless Eisav? Already in the womb, it was clear that Yaakov and Eisav were headed in very different directions. When they grew up, Eisav
Hashem promised Avraham that his children would be great in number. Though we have never been more than a small fraction of the world’s population,
Avraham’s Brother This week, we read of an event very similar to what we are experiencing. Avraham goes to war to free Lot, who was
It is 3:00 a.m. I am never up at this hour. I need set sleep and get very tired when I don’t get it. And
Zman Simchateinu Though there is a mitzvah of simcha on all Yamim Tovim, only Sukkot is described as “zman simchateinu, the time of our joy.”
Fifty years ago, Yom Kippur and the Yamim Noraim took on new meaning. The term Yamim Noraim connotes the awesomeness of the High Holiday period
Achieving a feeling of bitachon is challenging. It is hard to rely on a force we don’t see that emanates from a Being we can’t
Previously, we explored the fundamental belief that Hashem controls everything that happens to a person and some ramifications of that; the fact that Hashem determines
In our last piece, we saw that Hashem’s directorship of the world also applies to the actions and decisions of man (as natural occurrences). Hashem
שַׁמַּאי אוֹמֵר… אֱמֹר מְעַט וַעֲשֵׂה הַרְבֵּה… (אבות א:טו) שִׁמְעוֹן בְּנוֹ אוֹמֵר, כָּל יָמַי גָּדַלְתִּי בֵין הַחֲכָמִים, וְלֹא מָצָאתִי לַגּוּף טוֹב אֶלָּא שְׁתִיקָה. וְלֹא הַמִּדְרָשׁ הוּא
משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי, וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים, וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הֵם אָמְרוּ שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים, הֱווּ מְתוּנִים בַּדִּין, וְהַעֲמִידוּ תַלְמִידִים הַרְבֵּה,
Chanukah parties with family and friends are one of the highlights of this special time of year. Though an appropriate way to celebrate, the Shulchan
