One December, Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l, asked his students what their New Year’s Resolutions were. The students were shocked: “Rebbe, this isn’t the Jewish new year!” He responded, “The entire country is using this as a time for self- reflection...
There are two parshios in the Torah entitled with the word ‘chaim’ and both talk about death: Chayei Sorah – about the passing of Sorah Imeinu, Rabbi Moshe and Vayechi, which the...
Yaakov Avinu assem- bled his sons just before his death to give them each a blessing. When he addressed his first son, Reuven, Yaakov that not only is he not the...
Isidor Isaac Rabi was a Nobel laureate physicist recognized for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, used the world over in MRI underestimatedjusthowmuchtheyhad already forgotten. Social psychologists call that the “illusion...
I. Gehinom in the Jewish Tradition Every once in a while, someone in the media will say that Jews do not believe in “Purgatory”. This is puzzling because the fire of Gehinom...
Toward the end of Parashat Vayehi, we read of Yosef’s broth- Several different interpretations have been offered for this verse – “Ha’tahat Elokim Anochi” (“Am I in Hashem’s place?”). One particularly...
In shul many men place their tallis over their head for the entire davening. Some do so only after Barchu, while others do not cover their head with a tallis...
At the beginning of the parsha, Yaakov asks Yosef to swear that he will bring him back to the Land of Moreover, the Gemara says in Kesuvos and other places that...
ת”ח During the years terrible massacres ות”ט befell the European Jewish communities. The Tosfos Yom Tov zt’l, who lived during this time, proclaimed that the massacres were a punishment from...