30 Sep KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS
As we approach the joyous festival of sukkos, we reflect back at the long, hard period of Elul and the High Holy Days. We put in a lot of effort and time in trying to improve our...
25 Sep TZEDAKA – ARE WE GIVING ENOUGH?
One of the most urgent segments of our Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur liturgy is the proclamation we say with great feeling, “Us’shuvah us’filah u’tzedakah ma- avirin es ro-ah hagizeirah – And Repentance, and Prayer, and Charity remove a...
16 Sep LAST MINUTE STRATEGIES FOR A SWEET NEW YEAR
As we approach Rosh HaShanah, the Day of Judgement, I want to share with my dear readers some last minute strategies that I believe can make a very significant difference for the coming year. The first is to remember...
09 Sep A CHILLING VERSE FOR THE AGES
In the tochechah, the curses in this week’s parsha of Ki Savo, there is a fascinating pasuk. “Yisa Hashem alecha goy mei’rachok mik’tzeh ha’aretz ka’asher yideh hanasher – Hashem will bring against you a nation from a distance, from...
02 Sep ELUL STRIVINGS!
We are now in the midst of the most critical month of the year: the month of Elul. It is the time that we have to prepare ourselves for the Day of Judgement, Rosh HaShanah, when our...
26 Aug THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON FOR ELUL
Incredibly, we are already in the thick of Elul. We know it is very serious, for we are taught in Yiddishkeit, “Hakol holeich achar ha’chasom – Everything goes after the finale.” Since Elul is the last month of...
19 Aug WHY SO MUCH ANTISEMITISM?
At the recent Question & Answer session for the Irgun Shiurei Torah, (which you can see on TorahAnytime. com), I fielded the following question: Why would Hashem allow such a blatantly antisemitic mayoral candidate, like Zohran Mamdani, to succeed and...
10 Aug THE ELIXIR OF LIFE
In the Kedushah of Mussaf, we say in unison, “Mimikomo Hu yifen b’rachamav l’amo – From His place He turns to His Nation, V’yachon am hami’yachadim Shemo – And shows favor to His Nation that declares His Name Unique,...
05 Aug WHAT IS SINAS CHINAM?
With great relief, we’ve arrived at Shabbos Nachamu, 5785. The days of mourning are behind us and we experience a Shabbos Nachamu, a Shabbos of comfort, which falls this year on the very happy day of t’u b’Av, the...
29 Jul THE JEWISH PROFESSION
As we head to Tisha b’Av, we are acutely aware that all the tragedies connected to the saddest day of the year have their root in the lashon hara spoken by the meraglim, the spies, who maligned Eretz...