Articles in Concepts
B’har:Take Him at His Word
A Promise
We are commanded in this week’s Parsha to take a Sabbatical, every seven years, from farming and gardening. The Torah explains that there are weekly Sabbaticals and annual Sabbaticals and that in observing this Sabbatical we honor G-d as creator of the world.
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K’doshim: Gossip can be Deadly
Innocent Chatter
On a bus in Tel Aviv, an elderly woman could not help but overhear as two young ladies gossiped about a friend, who was engaged to be married. Giggling, they predicted that if her fiancé would only discover her faults, he would surely call off their engagement. The woman …
Shmini: on Grieving and Joy
An Ecstatic but Trying Moment
This Parsha describes a moment of glory for the children of Israel. They had been forgiven for their sin (the golden calf) and as a consolation prize G-d commanded them to build a tabernacle, a dwelling place for the Divine.
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Pekudei: Learn to Love It
A Generous Text
This week’s Parsha continues the theme from the previous Parsha in describing our ancestor’s enthusiasm for building the Mishkan (tabernacle) and their exacting commitment to its great detail. After transmitting G-d’s detailed instructions for building the Mishkan the Torah could have simply concluded with the words “Vayasu Ken,” …
The Miracles We Witness Daily
A Miracle in our Times
Life deals us
many cards. We don't always like the cards we were dealt but are free
to choose the light in which we view these cards. In this vein I offer
an extraordinary story that occurred several years ago to a
sixty-year-old woman, a friend of a friend.
At the …
The Loss of llan Ramon: Lessons from A Tragedy
As we approach the Yhartzeit
(anniversary of passing) of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli Astronaut who died
in the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle, we present the
following thoughts.
Grieving the True Loss
The explosion of the
Columbia Space Shuttle shook the world. The loss of Ilan Ramon, the
first Israeli astronaut in Space, brought the Jewish world …
Yitro- Each to his own Level
Deputizing the Students
In this week’s Parsha we read that Moses descended from Mt Sinai and began to teach G-d’s Torah to the Masses. As Moses sat from morning to evening long queues of query laden students formed up and snaked around his tent for miles. Each sought an answer, each …
Yud Shevat: Former Rebbe's Date of Passing
The tenth day of the
Hebrew month of Shevat marks the passing of the illustrious Rabbi
Yoseph Y. Schneerson, the sixth Rebbe of the Chabad Chassidic movement.
He was born in 1870 and upon the passing of his father, the fifth
Rebbe, he accepted the mantle of Chabad leadership.
He steered the movement
through the perilous …
