August 2024

I am Hashem Elokecha who has taken you out of the land of Mitzrayim.[1] A medrash finds the origins of the Shema in this opening… Read More »It’s All One

Reuven heard and determined to save [Yosef] from their hands. “Don’t spill blood…You can throw him into this pit in the desert and you won’t… Read More »Purim

“It is forbidden for a person to attend to his personal needs before he prays to Hashem, as the verse in Tehillim [85,14] says, ‘Tzedek… Read More »Personal Needs

Today people sometimes seem willing to invite violations of their own privacy. The New York Times Magazine, for example, ran an article about the popularity… Read More »Modesty: The Last Taboo

This Shabbos, upon which we read Parshas V’eschanan, is the Shabbos after Tisha B’Av – Shabbos Nachamu. Coming after the mourning of the Temple’s destruction,… Read More »Switching Gears

“And write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates” (6:9) Generally, a mitzva is defined by the object used to perform… Read More »Mi Casa Es Su Casa

The long-awaited moment is finally drawing near. The forty long years in the desert are coming to an end. The Jewish people are massed on… Read More »Sight and Insight

Moshe begins this week’s portion by telling the Jewish people how he pleaded with the Almighty to let him see the Land of Israel. He… Read More »I Have Just Begun to See

THERE IS A difference between being frum, and living frum. It’s like being a soldier. Most soldiers are not soldiers. They are citizens forced to… Read More »Outside and Inside

Ben (son of) Bag Bag said: Turn the Torah over and over for everything is in it. Look into it, grow old and worn over… Read More »Chapter 5, Mishna 26: The Infinite Depths