Purim: When G-d wakes Up
The Megillah tells the story of King Ahasuerus, who could not sleep in the middle of the night. He asked his servants to read the palace chronicles to him, and they read about Mordechai saving the king’s life. He immediately ordered Haman to reward Mordechai by …
Routine can be boring. You do it every day and you grow tired of it. We are always looking for something new and exciting. Something to pique our interest and engage our curiosity. Routine doesn’t do the trick. We need something novel, something unusual, something unexpected. The problem with new …
The Complaint
They were stranded in a vast desert; miles from civilization. The meager provisions, brought along from Egypt, entirely depleted. There was nothing left; not a drop. If they failed to secure food today, their children would go hungry the next day. Under these conditions, why was asking for food …
The Arithmetic of Light
Every Jewish child masters the Chanukah arithmetic long before graduating from kindergarten. We light one candle on the first night, two on the second, three on the third, till we reach night number eight. In fact every child takes special pleasure in kindling their very own Chanukiah. …
To rejoice for others, when they receive the something that you coveted, is difficult. To rejoice for others despite personal disappointment, or loss, displays character, humility, and refinement. It is rare, but every parent hopes to see such virtue in their child.
As the sun sets on Friday and the weekday …
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 …
