2020-05-08

“You shall count seven complete weeks from the day following the Shabbat from the day you brought the omer as a wave offering seven…

2020-04-24

There is no greater joy than having a child. From a religious perspective, bringing new life into this world is the most tangible way of…

2020-04-03

"This is the law of the sin offering, chatat: at the place where the elevation offering, olah, is slaughtered shall the sin offering be…

2020-03-27

Perhaps Man’s greatest fear is his ultimate irrelevance, that we really don’t make a difference and that in the greater scheme of things…

2019-05-31

Twice a year, before Shavuot and Rosh Hashana, we read the tochecha, the list of dire consequences that will, G-d forbid, befall the Jewish…

2019-05-24

The Torah was wary of the employer-employee relationship. Almost by definition, an employee is not much different than a slave; both are told what to…

2019-05-03

For those who write divrei Torah, the next few months will be a bit challenging and will demonstrate our geographical frame of reference.…

2019-05-03

“Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am the Lord your G-d: Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of…

2019-04-12

Judaism teaches that everything has the potential for holiness; after all everything in this world was created by G-d. But it is up to man to…

2019-04-05

The first of Nissan and the first of Tishrei mark the beginnings of the Jewish year. The solar aspect of our calendar—representing the fixed…

2019-03-29

When tragedy strikes there is a tendency to search for some rational explanation as we subsequently attempt to find meaning and a degree of comfort,…

2019-03-26

“Moshe then inquired, darosh darash, about the goat of the sin offering, and it had been burned” (Vayikra 10:16). Judaism has always…

2019-03-22

Excitement and consistency: We tend to view these terms as contradictory. Man gets excited over discovering new things and views variety as the spice…

2018-05-11

In his thematic enumeration of the 613 mitzvoth, the Rambam has as the very first mitzvah that of belief in G-d. It is, in the view of the …

2018-05-04

“Do not desecrate My holy name. I must be sanctified among the Israelites" (Vayikra 22:31). The role of the Jew is to sanctify the name…

2018-04-27

Why were we taken out of Egypt?  Concepts such as freedom, justice, equality, and the recognition of Divine Providence are the themes of the exodus,…

2018-04-20

The power of the spoken word is enormous. Even more powerful is the desire to gossip, a vice that has been perfected in our own times, when we…

2018-03-23

Marketing can make or break a product. Get it right and you are on your way to becoming wealthy. Make a mistake and, irrespective of the actual…

2018-03-17

Modern man finds the notion of sacrifices primitive, archaic and a form of Divine service that is no longer necessary. Yet to ancient man, nothing…

2017-05-18

The Jewish people have never been a large nation. Our strength lies in quality, not quantity. Nonetheless, precisely because we are so few in number…

2017-05-12

Judaism measures greatness by spiritual achievements. It should come as no surprise that many of our founding fathers suffered from physical ailments…

2017-04-07

Our tradition seems to have a somewhat ambivalent view regarding sacrifices. The Torah devotes many chapters to describing—in great detail…

2017-03-31

Sefer Vayikra serves as the “central” book of the Chumash; on one side flanked by Breisheet and Shemot, which detail the founding of the…

2016-05-27

Legal loopholes are a mainstay of the legal profession. People are often frustrated when criminals are let off the hook on a technicality, perhaps…