Why do we cry on Tisha B’Av? What is it that we really mourn? Is it possible that we mourn for thousands of years over bricks and stones? Over the demolition of buildings? These questions burn in our mind throughout Tisha B’Av. How many of us question in the depths of our hearts the meaning […]
This past week, I had the great honor and merit to attend Isralight‘s annual rabbinical conference held in the heart of Jerusalem. From community rabbis, to teachers, education center directors and Yeshiva rebbeim, we formed a small but powerful group of rabbis willing to make a difference in the education of our students and congregants. […]
I write these words with tears in my eyes. As I sit here in front of my computer, Jewish parents are being taken by Israeli police to prison. As I sit here, thousands are gathering in protest in front of the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. As I sit here, young girls who were once best […]
By Larry Gordon Lawrence, NY – They are seen as firebrands who are by choice isolated and who stick to themselves. They shun the limelight and instead prefer to live a simple, pious, and humble lives without the accouterments of modern life—all in an effort to pull themselves closer to G-d. This week they momentarily […]
The following fascinating private audience between the Rebbe and a Brazilian college student took place on Yud Shvat 1980. During the Yechidus the Brazilian student brought up his relationship with a non-Jewish woman, wanting to hear the Rebbe’s opinion. “Rebbe, my girl friend, who is not Jewish, and I, are thinking of getting married. What […]
How many of us go through the motions of life as if in a stupor, unthinking and oblivious to our true purpose in life? And so, each year we usher in the New Year, Rosh Hashanna, with the shrill blast of the Shofar as if to say, “Wake up sleepy ones from your slumber.” On […]
One of the most famous and favored customs we Jews perform during the Rosh Hashana holiday dinner is to dip an apple into honey as an expression of our hopes for a sweet new year. Why, though, do we specifically choose an apple for this ritual and not any other sweet fruit that could as […]
This past week, we celebrated Chai Elul – the 18th day of the Jewish month of Elul. It was on this day, in 1698, the great master and sage, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Great Name), was born. Thirty-six years later, he began to disseminate his teachings throughout the world, after the […]
To all my dearest readers and friends, I have been back in Israel for about two weeks now, but I haven’t been able to have some quality time to sit down and write. Finally, due to your encouragement, I hope to publish a few more articles in the near future. Thank you for all your […]
I hung up the phone with a smile, and shook my head in disbelief. “Why?” you ask. Ill tell you, after a brief introduction. Our Rabbis have taught us “One mitzvah brings along another mitzvah”. I always understood this teaching to mean that if one performs a mitzvah, then Hashem causes another mitzvah to come […]