I grew up in the shadow of the Six-Day War. The impossible yardstick of this war measured every subsequent war in Israel. It redefined the term blitzkrieg as Israel rebuffed a three-nation attack and came away with land from each of them.
All this changed when we woke up on Friday, …
G-d instructed Moses to convene a team of superior artisans to lead a team to build the Tabernacle. Though the leaders were superior artisans, anyone could volunteer; one did not need an exceptional pedigree to earn a place on the team. All it took was a required skill set. The …
Show Me the Money
If I set two plates before you, one filled with cookies, the other with a million dollars, which one would you choose? Consider the benefit you and society could derive from the money. Contrast that with the short term pleasure and long term belly-ache that the cookies …
The Shabbat before Passover is called Shabbat Hagadol, the great Shabbat. There are several reasons for this moniker, primarily that a great miracle occurred that day.
On this day, the Egyptian firstborn observed Jews leading lambs down the public streets to their homes. This was surprising because the Egyptians worshipped lambs. …
Shabbos Prohibitions
It would be far beyond the scope of this essay to do justice to the intricate details of the Shabbos prohibitions. However, we will attempt provide a general overview of the categories of Melacha (work) that is prohibited on Shabbos.
The written Torah does not clearly delineate the individual types …
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 …
