The 2nd of Iyar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Shmuel Shmelke Horowitz of Nikolsburg, known as the Rebbe Reb Shmelke (1726-1778). The firstborn son of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh of Chortkov, Shmuel Shmelke traced his ancestry
The nations say, “High above all nations is God,” for they see God as removed from His creation, high up in the heavens. Israel says, “Yet deigns to look upon the heavens and the earth,” for they realize that He pays attention
The days between the last day of Pesach and the festival of Shavuot may be considered as somewhat like Chol Hamoed, the Intermediate days of Pesach and Succot. (Rabbeinu Bachya, Leviticus 23:16)
In 1949, as American Jewry was entering a period marked by physical security and material prosperity, Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer, grandson of Rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch, the leader of German
The 29th of Nissan is the Yahrtzeit Rav Moshe Pallier of Kobrin (1784-1858). A close follower of the Rebbe, Rav Mordechai of Lechovitch and his son, Rav Noach, he became the first Rebbe of the Kobrin dynasty in 1833.
The 28th of Nissan is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Yehoshua of Ostrova, son of Rav Shlomo Leib of Lentcha, and author of Toldot Adam (1819-1873).
I woke up this morning thinking of Willa Cather and then remembered what my father zt"l would have said: “The sun was like a great visiting presence that stimulated and took its due from all animal energy. When it flung wide its cloak and stepped down...
The Kitzur Likkutei Moharan, #205, writes that it is extra effective to recite Psalms during the Sefirah in order to purify ourselves from the impurities of Egypt/Exile and to prepare for the sanctity of Shavuot. (Elef Katav #244) ...
The Mishna teaches that Shavuot is a Rosh Hashana. Therefore, just as we use the time period before Rosh Hashana, the month of Elul, to prepare for Rosh Hashana, we must use the
The 27th of Nissan is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Asher Margulies, a Yerushalmi mekubal, author of Kumi V'Roni on the laws and customs of Tikkun Chatzot – The special service recited at midnight
Sefer Hachinuch; Mitzvah/Concept 173: A person should think after he dips in the Mikvah, as if he was created at that moment. Just as the world was covered with water before God created
“Isaac went out to supplicate in the field “(Genesis 24:63). This was the very field that Abraham had purchased near the cave [of Machpelah]. When Isaac entered it, he would see the divine presence resting there and [smell the] heavenly fragrances
“Two men, both depressed, are conversing under Brunelleschi’s newly constructed dome. One of them lists a number of traditional remedies for low spirits, wine, music, the company of women, and exercise. But, to these he adds a new remedy; the contemplation of giant hoists of...
“These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the animals that are upon the earth.” (Leviticus 11:2) These words echo the first commandment given to Adam in the Garden. Although most will say that the first Mitzvah was to prohibit Adam from...
Tens of trees in Fieldston were ripped from the ground in those recent winds. There are giant trees lying on the street with huge chunks of the street piled around them. All the people taking Pesach walks stopped to observe the damage to the neighborhood....
Because there was nothing in the cosmic order, no unsolved puzzle, no tailor-made niche, that necessitated the muon’s existence, the Nobel Prize-winning particle physicist Isidor Isaac Rabi greeted the discovery of the muon with a less than enthusiastic “Who ordered that?” Nevertheless, there it was. Brian...
“With a pen in hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.” G.C. Lichtenberg (1780) Solomon’s Temple did not survive the Babylonians. His pen survived the Babylonians, the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusades, pogroms, Germans, and everyone else...
“To be a poet is to have a soul so quick to discern that no shade of quality escapes it, - a soul in which knowledge passes instantaneously into feeling, and feeling flashes back as a new organ of knowledge.” George Eliot As a child,...
Ezekiel 37:1-14: There is a tradition that the Resurrection of the Dead will take place on Pesach. We therefore, according to Rav Hai Gaon, read this story of Ezekiel bringing the
Job bestowed charity on the poor, clothed the naked, supported the orphans and widows, and went around visiting the sick – the poor as well as the rich. [When visiting] the poor ones, he would bring a doctor along. In some cases
Job would forcibly take a field away from orphans, improve it, and then return it to them (Bava Basra 16a). Gevurah is usually associated with self-control, as in, “Who is a Gibbor – a mighty person? One who conquers his creative
Four people came to recognize the Holy One, Blessed is He, on their own: Job, Abraham . . . (Bamidbar Rabbah 14:2). Whoever took a penny [of charity] from Job would be blessed (Pesachim 112a).
Kings II 23:1-9 – 21-25: Since the early years of the Northern Kingdom of Yeravam ben Nevat, the people have known that, “A son will be born to the House of David, Josiah, will be
The 13th of Nissan is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Moshe (ben Chaim) Alshich (1508-1593) [others say 1522-1570]. Born in Adrianople, Turkey, student of Rav Yosef Karo in Adrianople