If you had your first child, and that child is the first of the holy Shvatim who are the building blocks of Klal Israel, what would you name him? Considering that the name has a significant impact,...
INGREDIENTS: 2 pounds of colorful cherry tomatoes 1 dozen chopped Kalamata olives 2 tablespoons capers 2 pounds of trimmed green beans DIRECTIIONS: Green beans are such a fantastic vegetable. Anyway you make them they come out delicious. These green beans with...
One can look at many shuls during Krias Hatorah and people can be speaking, looking in a sefer etc. One of the biggest times where talking takes place in shul is during Krias Hatorah. Is this what Krias Hatorah...
I. Aliyah in Response to Crisis We learn from Ya’akov that the common response to danger, to plead with G-d, is proper. People promise to become better if they or their loved ones survive the crisis. They genuinely grow...
Rashi brings a very famous Midrash in his commentary to Parashat Vayetzeh, about Yaakov’s experiences when he ran away from the Land of Israel. The Torah says that when the sun set, Yaakov went to sleep, and he...
The first Rashi in the parsha notes that the pasuk [verse] beginning “And Yaakov departed” appears to be a little out of place. At the end of Parshas Toldos, the pasuk already said, “So Yitzchak sent away Yaakov...
The bracha of Al HaTzadikim, where we pray for the welfare of the righteous ones, is the thirteenth blessing of the Shemone Esrei. Perhaps this is because thirteen is the gematria, the numeric value, of ahava, love, and...
Chazal (Pirkei Avos 3:16) say, “A trap is spread out before all people.” The Baal Shem Tov zt’l explains that the trap is the pursuit of parnassah. The Maor Einayim (Vaeschanan) clarifies that just as bate is used to catch animals,...
Free Plowing Back in the ‘40s, a Jewish guy was arrested for smuggling guns into Israel, then known as Palestine. He was taken into one of the British prisons. While there, his wife writes him a letter decrying...
As twins, Jack and Oskar shared the same DNA, the same nature, and yet, they emerged radically different people. Born in Trinidad in 1933, they were six months old when their parents divorced. Oskar went to Germany with his...