torah

Last class we discussed the first blessing of our final section of Shemoneh Esrai, the section focusing on our gratitude to HaShem. Next week, we… Read More »Introduction to Modim: A Moment to Thank

THE QUESTION WAS, why are the “small” mitzvos that people tend to “walk all over” the ones that prove a person’s commitment? The answer is… Read More »Small Things, Big Impact

BS”D Volume 38, No. 44 13 Av 5784 August 17, 2024 Sponsored by Nathan and Rikki Lewin in memory of his mother Pessel bat Naftali… Read More »What Moshe Wanted

Ben (son of) Hai Hai said, according to the distress is the reward. Regarding ben Hai Hai’s unusual name (really nickname), see our discussion of… Read More »Chapter 5, Mishna 27: An Upside-Down World

Hear, Israel: HASHEM is our G-d; HASHEM is one. (Devarim 6:4) This should be a very familiar verse. We have been saying it twice daily… Read More »Get the Messages

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