The greatest miracle of our times, on par, perhaps, with that of the Six-Day War, occurred last Saturday night. More than 360 missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles were dispatched by Iran to Israel. The intention was to destroy defensive infrastructure, wreak mayhem and havoc, and destroy Jewish lives.
Some of the …
Empty Shoes
One of the most poignant monuments in the Unites States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the mountainous display of empty shoes. Thousands and thousands of ownerless shoes; old people’s shoes, young people’s shoes, sturdy shoes, torn shoes, large shoes, little shoes and even infant shoes. All are empty; their bearers …
Cold Feet
Many years ago, I found myself in a plane high above the Grand Canyon. I was on my way to accept a job as head counselor of a West Coast summer day camp when I began to doubt myself. Was this job right for me? Was I good enough? …
The story is told of a great rabbi who was up late at night deeply engrossed in Torah study together with his study partner. At that moment one of his partner’s children was awakened by a nightmare and began to cry. The rabbi, his concentration disturbed, arose from his studies …
Uplifting Limitations
When Torah
discipline is applied to family relations we see its astonishing
impact. Torah limits our choice of spouses (to Jews only) and also
regulates the timing of intimacy between approved spouses.
According to
Torah, husband and wife may not engage in intimate relations during the
course of menstrual flow, and seven days following.
Stoking the …
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
