40 Lessons
The Month of Elul National Repentance - Returning to the Land
That is, the dispersed and exiled nation will arouse to general repentance and will seek to return to the Holy Land. The next stage is that G-d will ingather them together in the Land, no matter how far and wide they are dispersed. This will be a unique display of Divine providence and aid for the ingathering of the Land's children in joy. And then will come the final stage...
IDF Memorial Day The Tallit that Saved Lives
I would like to share with you a miracle that happened to my friends and me, along with more than twenty IDF soldiers, thanks to a Tallit.
Additional Lessons Yom Yerushalayim: First Kingdom, Then Temple
Let us discuss, once again, the connection between the Torah aspects of Jewish life, and the national aspects thereof – expressed only in an independent Jewish state. This topic can be intriguingly analyzed in terms of the actions of the founders of the first Jewish commonwealth, Kings David and Shlomo, father and son.
Rav Shim'on Bar Yochai The Secrets of Lag BaOmer
The minor holiday of Lag BaOmer, coming up next Thursday, is traditionally associated with the Divine Tannaitic Sage, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi) – as well as with the thousands of students of Rabbi Akiva, who "stopped dying" on this day. Both of these are connected to each other...
Articles about Hanukkah A Religious or National Holiday?
Is Hannuka a religious holiday, on which the Nation of Israel commemorates its religious victory over Greek paganism? Or is it a national holiday, celebrating our military defeat of Greek expansionism in the Land of Israel?
Beha'alotcha It’s Good to Be Second or Small
Our parasha deals with the lot of those who lost the opportunity to offer the Korban Pesach on time. The Torah describes these people as having been impure due to “nefesh adam”. Hashem’s solution was that these people should offer the Korban Pesach a month later.
Parashat Hashavua The Unification of Yerushalayim and the Desert
For over a half-century, around the time of Yom Yerushalayim and soon before Shavuot, we get to read Parashat Bamidbar. Let us take a look at the connection between Yerushalayim and the desert.
Additional Lessons At this Point, the Son Asks
So why did Hashem liberate them? The answer is: because they were his sons; children are treated differently. They are always excellent, charming, beloved, and sweet. Hashem always treats them “like a father who has mercy on his children,” as they are the “apple of his eye.”
The Essence of Purim The Seeds of Unification
Megillat Esther calls Mordechai a “Judean man” and “son of Yair son of Shimi son of Kish, a Benjaminite.” The gemara is bothered by the apparent contradiction; one of its answers is that while he was genealogically from Binyamin, the people of Yehuda would argue that they deserve the credit for him because, as a descendent of Shimi, had David Hamelech killed Shimi ben Geira, Mordechai would not have been born.
Parashat Hashavua Jew – Speak Hebrew!
We will continue to explain the great obligation to thank Hashem for the miracles we have seen, as Hashem and Am Yisrael have returned to Zion and we have merited the establishment of State of Israel, the beginning of the growth of our liberation.