This week’s parashah discusses the building of the Mishkan. We want every Jewish home to be a sanctuary where Hashem resides. The Gemara tells (Bechoros 7) about a debate between Reb Yehoshua ben Chananya with apikorsim called Saba d’bei Atuna,...
Can a frum person be a vegan? What potential problems could they have? A frum person can be a vegan. The two main points I’d like to make is a) if you’re going to be a...
Anyone who has attended a fundraiser and browsed through the dinner journal knows that the largest donations are always featured first. The journal begins with the special full-page ads, and ends with the small quarter-page ads and smaller ads...
THE THREE LAYERS OF SELF The Jew and the General A Jew ends up sleeping in the same cabin as a Russian General of the Czar’s army. He tells the conductor to wake him up at 4:00 a.m. so...
The IDF uniform is not simply a costume and it should never be confused with a symbol of warmongering. It’s the holy garb of a holy nation charged with a holy mission. When a convert stands in the mikvah about...
Is a rabbi allowed to officiate at an intermarriage, a wedding between a Jew and a gentile? Nearly all halachically observant Jews will instinctively answer no. Despite that, I would like to explore some of the issues involved...
Many years ago, a father brought his son before his bar-mitzvah to meet a certain Hassidic Rebbe. The Rebbe, to the boy’s astonishment, turned to him and asked if he was a sports fan. “Sure,” the boy replied....
One Who Cheats In His Business Doesn’t Believe in G-d Our Parsha begins “And these are the statutes that you shall place before them.” There is a very famous Rashi on the words “And these”. Normally “these” would mean...
Last week, we elaborated from the Tzror Hamor regarding the verse which says that tefillin are totafos bein einecha, frontlets between our eyes. He informs us that in Egyptian the word totafos refers to the ancient eyeglasses that enabled...
The Noam Elimelech writes in Tzetel Kattan (16) “Man was created in the world to change his nature.” The Tzetel Kattan gives examples of stubbornness, laziness, shamefulness, someone who doesn’t speak clearly, and someone who isn’t a masmid by nature....