torah

Last week’s stories imply that answering amen to a bracha is compulsory, and that the consequences are serious if one does not do so. This… Read More »Obligation or Optional

When [Yosef] told [his dream] to his father and brothers, his father scolded him and said to him, “What kind of dream did you have?… Read More »Jealousy

Our previous installment of this class explored the connection between God’s parenting of us, and our own parenting of children. Given this model, we may… Read More »Parenting Lessons from God – The Ultimate Parent, Part 2

And Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, each took his pan, put fire in them, and placed incense upon it, and they brought before HASHEM foreign… Read More »To Say Nothing

All living creatures that exist in our world require nutrition to be able to survive. Human beings, being the most sophisticated of all creatures on… Read More »The Pivotal Power of Kosher

  This dvar Torah was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1245 – The Latest… Read More »An Original Interpretation of “Through Those Near to Me I Will Be Sanctified”

Once upon a time Rachel and Chaya stood at the door of their neighbour’s home. The two sisters had come to visit the Brickstein shiva… Read More »Visiting a Shiva House

Purim is an intensely spiritual twenty-four hours, occupying a higher spiritual realm than even Yom Kippur The elevated frame of mind that is meant to… Read More »Where Heaven Meets Earth

Yechezkel 36:16 This week’s Haftorah, read in conjunction with Parshas Parah, describes the Jewish people’s ultimate state of purity. The prophet Yechezkel says in the… Read More »Haftorah Commentary – Parshas Parah

This Week’s RRR (Relevant Religious Reference): “Do not look at the vessel but rather what is in it…” -Avos (Ethics of the Fathers), 5:27  … Read More »The Sign of the Swine