In this week’s Parsha of Ki Tavo we read how the Egyptians treated us cruelly and afflicted us (26:6). This is reminiscent of an earlier passage in the Torah where we were reminded that the Egyptians embittered our lives, forced our people into hard labor and even tried to throw every baby boy into the Nile River. It was the first

Hundreds of thousands throughout the world to unite in learning and tefillah on behalf of klal Yisrael.

If there was ever a time that klal Yisrael needed to unite in a massive outpouring of tefillah and achdus, if there was ever a time when tens of thousands of tinokos shel beis rabban

There are very few storylines as dramatic or as harsh as the saga of a ben sorer u’moreh. A wayward adolescent boy exhibits preliminary signs of insubordination, is arraigned by his own parents, and is quickly executed. This situation is so unforgiving that the Talmud Sanhedrin (71a) cites several opinions asserting that this

My great-uncle Meyer Thurm, z”l, was known for his caring heart, tzedakah and his honesty. His yahrzeit was a few weeks ago and I was reminded of a story I heard at his levaya. He owned a company with some large clients. One time he received a very large overpayment for an order from a large company in which the error would not

The past Lag BaOmer was one of those times when the eyes of the whole nation watched in tears the unimaginable consequences of the terrible disaster in Meron. The scale of the disaster—45 dead, including young children—and the circumstances—people who came to participate in a spiritual experience crushed to death—made it too

The organization of the second aliyah seems slightly odd. It begins by instructing that the body of an executed person be briefly publicly hung and then taken down before sunset. We are then taught the requirement to safeguard and return lost property, as well as assisting in unloading an animal that has collapsed under its burden. The

Sukkot 37b

Loewenstein’s shtiebel on the second floor of the North London flat was packed tight, from wall to wall, that balmy Sukkot morning. Congregants jostled for space to place their spear-like lulavim and cotton-cradled etrogim.

“Hold my etrog while I go

Our parsha brings the mitzvah of hashavat aveida, returning a lost possession back to its owner: “You shall not see your brother’s ox or sheep cast off and hide from them; you shall surely return them to your brother” (Devarim, 22:1).

Ramban notes that the language of “cast off” in

At the ceremony on the occasion of the dedication of the Beit Harav Kook and the Merkaz Harav flagship yeshiva of the religious Zionists, in 1923, the donor of the original structure housing the chief rabbi and the yeshiva made the following request and sacred commitment: As an architect and the leading Orthodox Jewish real estate mogul of

Virtually every American Modern Orthodox congregation omitted something from their typical High Holidays liturgy last year. What would have been a four-hour Rosh Hashanah morning service for many was trimmed down to a meager two-and-a-half hours. More than one congregant has already remarked to me that they would be willing to pay

On the night before Passover, Rabbi Akiva Males, a young rabbi in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was absorbed in the mitzvah of Bedikat Chametz in his shul. While checking the synagogue’s coatroom, he found a backpack resting on a high shelf. The knapsack held a digital camera, a small volume of mishnayot and several postcards sent from a

Metaphorically it is said that the “going out” in this parsha is referring to the battle with the yetzer hara. Surely there are many paths by which to engage in this battle, but perhaps one that coincides with the upcoming holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur would be to take a position that we are worth zero and are merely ashes