May these words of Torah serve as a merit le’iluy nishmat Menachem Mendel ben Harav Yoel David Balk, a”h.   This week we learned Shavuot

Bereishit 37:4 Danny Frankel was standing in shul, putting on his tefillin, when he saw someone he thought he knew across the sanctuary. He hoped

An Ashkenazic woman called me recently asking why her recent Sephardic guest requested that her family be served water challot and not egg challah for

Antiochus (=Antiochus IV) acceded to the throne in 175 B.C.E. In the beginning of his reign, a priest named Jason purchased the high priesthood with

Let’s put ourselves in Yosef’s shoes right after he was sold by his own brothers as a slave. Can you imagine the feeling of betrayal

During the past few weeks, I’ve received a plethora of would-be halachos that would apply if secular holidays and their symbols were actual mitzvos. There

Parshat Vayeshev The charge of every navi is to bring Hashem’s word to the people. More often than not, the message to be delivered is

In addition to my work at the Young Israel of Memphis, I’m also privileged to teach Torah to a great group of students at Memphis’

Recently walking the aisles in Trader Joe’s we realized that the experience we were having was enhanced by the music that was being played over

These days it’s too easy to offend people. People are offended by statues of people who are long dead and that have been standing since

There are moments in all our lives that we hope we will never forget: moments associated with a family simcha, great experience at camp, or

I spent the last evening of 2016 in the emergency room at St. Barnabas in Livingston. A workplace accident resulted in a cut finger that