In a 44-1 vote, the UNESCO board declared the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb to be “an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories – Jerusalem Post 02.11.2010 And all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Avraham his father the Pelishtim stopped them up and filled them [...]
As the rain clouds gathered to begin the Great Flood, G-d saw Noach sitting in his front yard weeping. “Noach,” He shouted, “Where is the Ark?” “Please forgive me!” cried Noach. “I did my best … but there were big problems. First, I had to get a permit for construction and your plans did [...]
Towards the end of his life, Moshe Rabenu informed Klal Yisrael of his impending death (Devarim 31:2): Moshe said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old today…” Meaning: “Today my days and years are filled on this day; on this day I was born and I this day I shall die, i.e., [...]
Once, Rav Yerucham Levovitz was visiting Radin, the city where the Chofetz Chaim resided. Rav Yerucham had a certain rare book with him. The Chofetz Chaim, who was the greatest Rabbi of his times, came to the lodging place of Rav Yerucham in order to borrow the book. Rav Yerucham asked the Chofetz Chaim why [...]
We find a curious pattern in the Torah: Hashem first promises victory to Klal Yisrael and then cautions them not to panic. For instance He assures us (Devarim 20:2): “When you go out to war against your enemy and you see horse and chariot, a great multitude of people who outnumber you, do not fear [...]
The Torah (Devarim 24:9) commands us to “Remember what HaShem your G-d, did to Miriam on the way…“ The injunction is fulfilled by remembering that Miriam spoke loshon hora about Moshe Rabenu, and was punished with tza’aras (a terrible skin disease). The Torah tells us that the nature of Miriam’s loshon hora concerned Moshe’s decision [...]
HaShem created the entire universe with the attribute of kindness – as King David declared: “The world was created in kindness” (Tehillim 89). In turn, all functions of the entire creation – for instance, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the light and warmth of the sun, etc. – are founded upon and [...]
The Torah (Devarim 18:10;11) absolutely condemns and forbids all forms of idol worship. However, the Sages of Mussar teach us that there is something very valuable that we can learn from idol worshippers. The inhabitants of the ancient world who practiced idol worship, would not set out on a journey, nor perform any deed without [...]
The power of external persuasion – whether in the form of money, sweet words, or honor – is far more powerful than we imagine. Indeed, even the smallest temptation can easily influence us to compromise our values. On Yom HaKippurim the yetzer horah, serves as the prosecutor, bringing all of our transgressions before HaShem. His [...]
A Mussar sage was teaching Torah to a young boy. Someone asked the Rabbi, “Who is the boy’s father?” The Rabbi responded, “He is the son of HaShem.” Then the Rabbi explained his unusual answer, “If I would have said, ‘He is Dave’s son or Chaim’s son – then you would have known something about [...]
There are two aspects that comprise the act of giving charity: 1) the actual giving of the gift; and, 2) the willingness of the heart to give. The Torah (Devarim 15:10) teaches the importance of giving charity with positive feelings: “You shall surely give him, and let your heart not feel bad when you give [...]
A straightforward reading of the verse (Devarim 11:13) that we read every day in Krias Shema seems perplexing: “if you continually hearken to My commandments that I command you today, to love HaShem…” Is “to love HaShem” the sum total of what HaShem requires of us? Aren’t there 613 commandments? King Dovid said “My soul [...]
Your weekly “Torah In Ten” videocast - Parshas Eikev Brooklyn, NY – Kol Menachem, the organization behind the critically acclaimed series of English Judaica, is announcing a new venture – Torah in Ten. In this go, go, go world we live in, it can be difficult to sit down and find time to study the weekly [...]
The heart is our spiritual center. The Torah instructs us to cut away the barrier of your heart (Devarim 10:16). The Ramban explains: “Your hearts should be open to know the truth…and you should not err to think that there is any benefit in serving intermediate forces, i.e., angels, idols, planets, etc.” After Klal Yisrael [...]
Steganography is a new word I have learned this week, defined in the dictionary as, “The art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file.” Steganography was used by the cabal of Russian spies recently arrested in the USA to communicate intelligence information back to “Moscow Central.” [...]
