| Sort articles by: date | title | views |
 Esther: A Tikkun for Yosef and His Brothers! .: Viewed: 3706 times :.
After Esther, a descendant of Binyamin, the son of Rochel Imenu, had saved herself and her family from Haman's decree of extermination, she returned to Achashveros, to plead that all of the Jews (Yehudim) be saved and protected from Haman's evil decree. While at this point in the Megillah (Ch. 8) Esther and her Binayminite clan are safe, she nevertheless risked her life again for the sake of...
Published: February 25, 2014 |
Yona's Sailors Dilemma: Kill One to Save Many? .: Viewed: 3610 times :.
Was throwing Yona into the sea to save the sailors on the boat in accordance with Halachah or not? Sanhedrin 74b teaches: Regarding any of the sins in the Torah, if a person is told "Violate it and you will not be killed, " he should violate it. The only exceptions are idolatry, sexual sin and murder…And how do we know that this applies to murder? It stands to reason… Can one...
Published: September 4, 2011 |
Tu BÂ’Av: Why the Celebration? .: Viewed: 3394 times :.
The Gemara says in Taanis (30b) that no days were more joyous for the Jewish people than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur. What was so special about the Fifteenth of Av? There are several opinions in the Gemara. According to one opinion, this was the day on which those, killed in Beitar, were brought to burial. When the Romans slaughtered the people of Beitar, they left their corpses to rot...
Published: May 24, 2011 |
A Constant Awareness of Jewish Suffering .: Viewed: 3348 times :.
Hundreds of thousands of our fellow Jews are under attack by rockets and missles from Gaza. Some are wounded physically, but many more are traumatized emotionally and suffer from shock, including many children. What should be our reaction in the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv area who are so far not under attack? How do we show solidarity with our suffering bretheren?
The Torah tells us that Moshe...
Published: November 13, 2012 |
A Childs' First Torah Lesson: Korbonot? .: Viewed: 3346 times :.
For centuries,(even TODAY in Chassidic Yeshiva Chedar), Jewish children traditionally began their Torah studies with Parshat Yayikrah. It seems odd that a child's entry into the world of Torah should begin with a study of the sacrifices offered to G-d. Why should it not begin with the narrative of Creation in the Book of Genesis or the narrative of Israel 's liberation from bondage in Egypt in...
Published: May 24, 2011 |
Must One Honor Abusive Parents? .: Viewed: 3310 times :.
"Honor your father and your mother" (Shemot 20:12) and "Your mother and father shall you respect" (Vayikra 19:3) are the Torah sources for children's responsibility to their parents. Parents are due this respect because, "There are three partners in a person, G-d, the father and the mother. When a person honors his father and mother, G-d says, 'I consider it as if I had dwelt among them, and...
Published: February 5, 2013 |
Is There A Mitzva To Speak Hebrew? .: Viewed: 3309 times :.
Rashi in Devarim 11 on the verse "to speak in them" quotes the Sifrei that when a child first begins to talk, his parents should speak to him in Hebrew and teach him Torah, and this will guarantee the child a long life. This same idea is found in the Tosefta in Chagigah which states that when a child knows how to talk, his parents should teach him Hebrew.
The clearest source which...
Published: August 7, 2012 |
Aaron's Moment of Silence (and Mine) .: Viewed: 3285 times :.
In Loving Memory of Our Dear Son, Asher Shmuel Chaim ben Ephraim V'Tziona Z"L.
After Aaron's two sons were struck dead by G-d, the Torah records Aaron's reaction, in Vayikra 10:3, "And Aaron was silent." The Ramban notes that Aaron maintained his silence only after first breaking into sobs. The Abarbanel disagrees asserting that Aaron did not react to the tragic death of his sons....
Published: April 10, 2013 |
Mordechai's Legacy: The Unique Jew .: Viewed: 3239 times :.
Why does the Megila say "a Jewish man was in the capital of Shushan and his name was Mordechai," when there were many Jewish people who lived in Shushan? The sages explain that many Jew fled Shushan out of fear of Haman; Mordechai was one of the few who did not. Rav Yonasan Eybeshitz disagrees with this interpretation, because later on in the Megila, Esther instructs Mordechai to "go and...
Published: May 24, 2011 |
The Red Heifer's Great Secret .: Viewed: 3222 times :.
Rashi in Parshat Chukat quotes a Midrash that explains that the red heifer is a tikun for the sin of the golden calf.  "To what can this be likened? To a maid that worked in the palace of the king.  One day her child came and soiled the palace with his filth. The king said: 'Let the mother come and clean up her child's filth' " This is the concept of atonement for the golden calf,...
Published: June 27, 2011 |
Aaron HaCohen's Yahrtzeit – The Only One in the Torah! .: Viewed: 3205 times :.
Why is Aaron HaCohen's Yahrtzeit the only one mentioned in the Torah? None of the Avot or the Imahot were accorded such an honor and not even Moshe Rabbenu. Only the date of the death of Aaron is mentioned. Why? Aaron's Yahrtzeit is the first day of the month of Av, and the Jewish calendar is structured so that Parshat Masei which records Aaron's death is read before Tisha B'Av. Why? The...
Published: June 22, 2015 |
The Exodus from Egypt: Road Map of the Final Redemption .: Viewed: 3173 times :.
“And Moshe took his wife and sons and mounted them on the donkey.”(Shemot 4:20) Rashi makes the cryptic comment, “The donkey that Moshiach will utilize to usher in the Final Redemption.” How do we understand this strange comment of Rashi? Can a donkey live for thousands of years? The explanation is that Rashi is speaking metaphorically. Rashi means that when G-d...
Published: January 15, 2012 |
Nazir: A Holy Sinner? .: Viewed: 3169 times :.
The Torah's attitude towards the nazir seems contradictory. On one hand, the Torah calls him "holy", as it says: "He is holy to Hashem" (Bamidbar 6:8). On the other hand, the nazir has to bring a sin-offering at the conclusion of the period of nezirut. Furthermore, it is written of a nazir who became defiled [with a dead body]: "He [the kohen] shall provide him atonement for having SINNED...
Published: May 24, 2011 |
Can Evolution and the Torah's Account of Creation Coexist? .: Viewed: 3120 times :.
There are remarkable similarities between the account of the creation as given in Breishit and the theory of evolution. First, light was created, then the firmament, followed by sea, land and vegetation. The creation of the heavenly bodies was followed by fish and birds, and then by land animals. Only finally, as the culmination of G-d's work, was man created. Indeed, the Torah's description...
Published: May 24, 2011 |
The Rabbis' Seder – For Men Only? .: Viewed: 3114 times :.
"It happened that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar Ben-Azarya, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarphon were reclining in Bnei Brak. They were discussing the Exodus from Egypt all that night, until their students came and told them: 'Our Rabbis! The time has come for reciting the morning Shema!'"(Pesach Haggadah). This story is read by all Jews on Pesach at the Seder. At first sight, it is a...
Published: February 26, 2013 |
|