יום רביעי, ט׳ תמוז תשפ״וWednesday, June 24, 2026
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What has changed? The simple reality is that women in those days dressed modestly because there was a prevailing sense of propriety and self-respect.
Never in the course of history has the speed of change been so dramatic and apparent, or brought such extraordinary power and wealth to the average person.
One of the most important books you will ever read is your autobiography.
This story is significant because Two-Gun Crowley wasn’t insane. He wasn’t a psychopath.
Many items in this world were created strictly for man’s enjoyment. One example is food.
Yes, Hashem gives free will to man – He gives us the ability to make choices – but He governs the outcome.
A Jew is either rising or falling; he never remains in one place. It all pivots on Torah learning. If he labors in Torah, he rises to the heights. If not, he begins to fall.
Interestingly, it’s not just anger that colors our vision. Jealousy does too – as does greed, desire, and arrogance.
If the merit of Avraham protected an entire nation, surely it will protect us, his direct descendants.
Hashem took us from under His throne of glory and put us into a body to give us a chance to grow, to accomplish and to change our essence. But, it wasn’t just us we were charged with perfecting.
Why should a person be rewarded for not doing something he wouldn’t have done anyway?
Even the merit of the entire Jewish people was stupendous. While not every member had remained on the highest level, as a nation they had remained loyal to Hashem.
Of course, Aharon didn’t veer to the left or the right. This was the avodah in the Mishkan he was performing, and the directives came straight from Hashem!
This is eye-opening, as it teaches us a fundamental concept. All growth requires change, and change requires energy.
This Rashi seems difficult to understand when we focus on whom these people were and where this was taking place.
There was once a scalding hot bath that no one could enter. Along came one foolish individual who jumped in. Although he was immediately burned, he cooled off the bath for others.
Clearly, creating the menorah was beyond human capacity. Why did Moshe need to have a clear image of what it was to look like?
Hashem is more concerned for my good than I am. Hashem looks out for my interests more than I do myself.
Hashem created those sacs so that there would be another dimension to our enjoyment. The sensation of eating an orange would be different without this feature.
The difficulty with this Rashi is that he lists all three reasons in same breath as if they are equal, and clearly they aren’t.
Even if the Egyptians prided themselves on ingenuity and advancements, they had to know they were most likely wrong when it came to accurately knowing when midnight was.
This story is compelling because Ford didn’t care about anyone but himself. He didn’t choose to be kind.
A therapist will show the child a picture of a person’s face and then help her identify the emotion that person was most likely feeling.
For the next twenty years Yaakov was an unwelcome intruder in a culture alien to his nature, eating at the very table of a father-in-law who attempted in any way possible to swindle and cheat him.
This Midrash is very difficult to understand. Every word Yaakov said was true. He did live a very difficult life. He was beset with troubles and distress. He suffered for decades.
The Bach seems to be saying that all that was to befall the Jewish people was because we no longer approached the Avodah with the appropriate sense of purpose, and therefore it was taken from us.
If Yosef was so brilliant, how is it possible he overlooked something as elementary as thinking about what his conduct would lead to?
While his only motivation may have been to earn a living for himself, he is providing a substantial gain to those he does business with. In this scenario, $850,000 of his efforts are going to vendors, suppliers, and employees. An
At times it almost seems as if Hashem is deliberately sabotaging our well-laid plans for serving Him. And it doesn’t make much sense.
A man is approaching. Do I smile and nod, or do I look the other way? He’s looking at me; do I turn my head to respond or do I look out at the trees?
Sarah Imeinu was a strong, emotionally stable woman. She had unshakable bitachon, having lived through many trials and travails.
That understanding is enough to evoke terror in any man’s heart, and we can certainly understand why he didn’t move.
Avram’s father was not impressed with the cleverness of his son. In fact, he was so unimpressed that he took him to Nimrod the king, who pronounced him an enemy of the state and attempted to execute him.
Our hishtadlus (efforts) and our bitachon (trust in Hashem) have to be balanced.
What possible comparison is there between this simple mitzvah of leaving a portion to the poor man and the colossal mitzvah of bringing all of the sacrifices on each holiday?
You’ve never stared down the barrel of a gun before – at least not a real one.
Why would Hashem allow such a man to do teshuvah? And even more, why would Hashem change nature to save such a lowlife?
Clearly, the sin was forgiven, so why couldn’t the Jews look at Moshe’s face?
There are many issues that affect the occupants of this planet. The entire globe is one multi-dimensional chess game, and Hashem, the Ultimate Grand Master, maps out the moves of the year to come.
How can the Torah command me to be happy? Being happy isn’t an emotion we can turn on and off like a light switch.
A person is made in the image of Hashem, and it is an embarrassment to Hashem to leave His likeness hanging.
Everything you see – from the flower to the bee, from the oceans to the mountains, rivers and planets, the sun, the moon, and the stars – all just sort of happened. No designer. No creator.
While it is true that life is a battle, and exerting self-control is the primary vehicle of growth, Hashem created us to be happy.
We know Hashem metes out many life tests. But where have we seen that not having to struggle is a challenge?
Why does the huge, powerful horse submit to the will of the little, weak man?
Yet it appears that if the shogeg killer would daven, his prayers might be answered, and the kohen gadol would die. Why?
The reason we can’t even see the temptation is that we are judging the generation according to our social climate.
Rashi tells us that because of this mistake, the Jewish people lost out on a great lesson.
The entire group began laughing at Moshe, and with this Korach launched his revolt.
One reason commonly cited for anti-Semitism is simply jealousy.
The Even Ezra is teaching us a fundamental concept in growth: that we can shape our very reality.
The point is that they hold up a picture of that man. Not a picture of the Chasam Sofer.
This may sound myopic and cloistered, but it is based on a fundamental understanding of the human. To remain pure in an impure world, we need to create our own world.
The lives of Jews in Mitzrayim were defined by misery and suffering. They had no rights. They had no life.
Hashem imprinted into the essence of each animal all the instincts necessary for its survival as well as for the continuation of its species.
As great as he was, and as much as he accepted every word of the Torah as completely true, on some level it wasn’t 100 percent real to him.
The nefesh habahami on the other hand is comprised of the base instincts necessary for survival.
He didn’t choose to be kind. He didn’t want to feel the pain of others. In fact, he tried his best to squelch this sensitivity.
He feels joy in his heart as he revels in the abundance of his bumper crop. And then he looks out at his neighbor’s field. Meager. Undergrown. Spotty.
So am I deserving of honor? The body I occupy sure is; just look at what it can do. But I am that little guy inside – small, insignificant, unimportant.
While this is a beautiful illustration of the giving nature of a tzaddik, there is as subtle message here: the man stole a spoon from the Chofetz Chaim. How was that possible?
Klal Yisrael was living in the desert. They neither worked for a living nor had any use for money. All their needs were taken care of.
Granted, these might be additional reasons to celebrate, but isn’t life a much greater reason?
It must be difficult. You have that precious gem, that beautiful gold. I feel badly even asking.
At a certain point, he returned home, and his uncle noticed that his appearance had changed.
Hashem custom-designed this world and our current existence specifically so that we can grow.
The answer to this question is predicated upon understanding the concept of free will.
The sad reality is that we have become slaves to the whims and fancies of people who do not share our understanding of the holiness of the individual, nor the greatness of the human.
Before each person is born, he is predestined to certain abilities and talents, a particular level of intelligence, and an exact disposition and temperament.
He explains that our nation is one unit – irrevocably tied together in a common fate. What happens to one affects another. The state of each individual impacts the whole.
When a tzaddik uses a part of the world, he provides that portion with its purpose in existence.
If we didn’t understand the implications of the moment, or if we didn’t view them as monumental, they would pass as any other of millions of events we live through.
The actual event for which we give thanksgiving and sing Hallel is the salvation of the Jewish people.
Why does Rashi feel we need a mashol to understand this concept?
It would be hard for you to deny your knowledge of where this human cargo was headed, as the air was heavy with the smell of burning flesh. But you never killed anyone.
For many years Rachel knew she was to marry Yaakov and be a matriarch of the Jewish people.
Precisely because she came from the house of wicked people and wasn’t negatively influenced, she was considered greater than if she had been born into a house of holy people.
Why does Lavan’s speaking before his father show that he was wicked? Disrespectful, yes. Rude, certainly. But a rasha?
Avraham had many students, but there was only one who was truly devoted to knowing and understanding the ways of his teacher. That was Yitzchak.
Is there any way to measure the value of life? Is it worth a million dollars? Ten million? A hundred billion? Is it even possible to put a value on our existence?
Rashi is troubled that thievery is being treated as the pivotal point of the world’s existence. There are many sins that are worse.
Before there was physicality, there was nothing to measure, so there was no system to measure height.
Being happy isn’t an emotion we can turn on and off like a light switch. And how can we relate the effect of doing a mitzvah joyfully to the case of Reuven?
Rashi makes a critical observation: When Yonah was thrown overboard the pasuk says he was swallowed by a male fish. Yet when he davened to Hashem, the pasuk says a female fish spit him out.
There is a period of fact finding, a period of deliberation, and then the decision is read for all to hear. At that point, the judge, the jury, the defendant, and all in attendance know the ruling.
Studies show that not only do athletes who use them improve, but so do many other people whose activities require peak performance.
So if on the previous Rosh Hashanah, Shimon had a decree of a year of life, then there is nothing Reuven or any other force in existence could do to change that.
At the same time, a king is expected to remain humble. The Torah isn’t afraid the great honor accorded to him will bring him to arrogance.
By gradually increasing the workload, the body is called upon to respond. The work should never be easy.
While the sincerity of the little fellow might be touching, he is missing the point.
When a man mounts a horse, the man may weigh 150 pounds, the horse more than 2,000. Yet the man commands the horse to ride, gallop, turn, and stop.
If one approaches the issue with an open mind, the truth is incontrovertible. The world screams out that it was created.
Any judgment becomes a balance – how much rachamim and how much din?
Being examined by a doctor was causing his patients to be nervous, and that was contributing to the rise in their blood pressure.
So even if their parnassah was dependent on their listening, how would they be motivated by something so mundane as earning their daily bread?
Korach wasn’t approaching Moshe to seek the truth; his sole intention was to mock and discredit Moshe.
Clearly, they were lacking in bitachon. Their faith in Hashem was deficient. But they weren’t guilty of speaking lashon hara.
To gain power or distract the population from their suffering, a monarch would look for a place to put the blame.
So on both sides of the spectrum, the yetzer hara either should be unable to convince the person it is permitted – or it shouldn’t need to do any convincing.
“That is you – had you lived up to your potential, had you become what you were destined to be.”
June 19, 2026 
