יום ראשון, ז׳ חשוון תשפ״זSunday, October 18, 2026
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Who Permitted Eating Turkey? ‘Geese And Wild Geese Are Forbidden Together’ (Bava Kamma 55a)
Our shul recently hosted Bret Stephens, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and foreign affairs expert. In his talk, he referenced a column he wrote for the New York Times reflecting on the atrocity of October 7th titled, “For America’s Jews, Every Day Must Be Oct. 8.” He opens: There used to be a sign (which, for […]
Yaacov's form of communication with Hashem, was unique.
Question: Should we be reciting the prayer for the welfare of the government? Is it a hefsek during the tefillah, or is it important during wartime? Martin Kahn Via email
The technician was certain that the Rabbi intended to upbraid him personally for having caused him discomfort and for attempting to continue against his will. Rav Moshe, however, had something else in mind.
The Rebbe stressed that the court’s ruling that the library belongs to Chassidei Chabad was a reflection of the Heavenly court’s decision that the Rebbe’s chassidim were doing what was required of them.
During difficult times, we should remind ourselves that everything, including suffering, emanates from Hashem. Though Hashem is the ultimate good and wants the best for us, we know that grief also comes from Him: A person does not stub his toe below unless it was declared above (Chullin 7b).
The Hebrew word chamor stems from the root, chomer, which means material matter. The Egyptian is a slave to his desires and thus servitude and chomer are metaphysically equivalent.
Did Yosef use the famine to bring his family down to Egypt in hopes of implementing an alternative approach to the Hebrew mission in the Diaspora?
While there is an important place for reflecting about past mistakes, that is only with regards to preparing ourselves to do better in the future.
Our sages tell us that there is no calamity that befalls the Jewish people that does not carry within it the sin of the Golden Calf. So devastating was this incident that it was never forgotten in all the succeeding persecutions of the Jewish people.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
In Judaism kadosh, holy, means separation. To sanctify is to separate. Why? Because when we separate, we create order. We defeat chaos. We give everything and everyone their space.
Notwithstanding the fact that this was a family who was not yet Torah-observant, they could not help but recognize ein od milvado – there is none other than G-d.
A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation. -James Freeman Clarke
What was the difference between Leah’s crying and Rachel’s crying? Leah was weeping for her own misfortune... Did Rachel cry over her own misfortune?
In the political and historical affairs that unfold here in the world of events, we find manifestations of higher spiritual truths, and there are designated roles to be played by each of the two Mashiachs in the final conflicts and clashes that will precede the final redemption.
For us, the words of the Maharal ring true in our contemporary times! Hashem is revealing to us, notwithstanding the tragic and heartbreaking casualties of precious Jewish lives, that He is with us every step of the way.
There are a number of reasons why one should not go around barefoot. One of the reasons is that this is considered to be immodest and undignified.
By Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel
A fascinating footnote to Israeli History: Prime Minister Menachem Begin would seek to move Yom HaShoah to Tisha B'Av following his meeting with Rav Soloveitchik in 1977.
In our house we stopped serving leftovers. It just wasn’t worth the battle. So now when our children ask on Monday what’s for supper? the answer is Shabbos delicacies! True, the foods may be the same as what graced our Shabbos table, but they aren’t leftovers; now they are delicacies!
There may be nothing more enchanting, mystical, and mysterious than the wonder of music. It has the ability to reach the very root of our soul.
It should be noted, though, that even when giving a gift to non-Jews is permitted, there is an additional concern with giving it on his or her holiday.
So many precious lives have already been taken from us and we do not know when this period will pass. Everything passes however. When one is in the middle of something terrible it is so hard to see the light that will eventually come.
My eyes tear up each morning when the name of another soldier fallen in battle is announced on the 6 a.m. news.
I don’t think it’s a problem, said the secretary. Each person is probably happy to eat what he or she is used to. If I order everything kosher, it will come out $100 to $200 more.
Staying Alive Underwater ‘She Has Already Ascended’ (Bava Kamma 50a)
The meal Yosef prepared for his brothers is associated with the Shabbat meal, with a hint of Chanukah.
Question: My husband and I are Ashkenazi, yet my children go to school with Sefardim. My son came home and said that only my husband is to light the Chanukah candles. In my parent’s home, we all lit our own candles on Chanukah to celebrate the great miracle that saved our people for all future generations. Who is correct? Name Withheld Via E-Mail
Over the years, the Rebbe sent him to me several times to help him with what he needed. Baruch Hashem, I had the zechus of helping him and of getting to know him up close.
This is a time that we need to dig deeper, muster all of our energy, courage and resources to stand tall and proud and to be practicing Jews.
The Royal Butler realized that there was a higher power here than Yosef and Pharaoh. He noted, and just as he had interpreted, so it was, despite the fact that the transgression of the two – the butler and the baker – were the same.
Did Yosef seek to transform Egypt into a civilization built on Hebrew values that would repair the world?
We know Yosef never forgot his father. Even though he no longer lived next to him, his father was an ever-present influence wherever he went and whatever he did.
The original psychology that began with Freud’s work came from a western medical model, focusing on the symptoms, disorder and pathology.
When they do not contain a clear message and require interpretation, a crucial question arises: Who is empowered to interpret the dream?
Yosef was a living Shulchan Lechem HaPanim; through him Hashem channeled sustenance and prosperity to the entire world.
This outcome is anticipated in the Torah, the blueprint of Creation, according to which the intent was always for kings to arise and, in time, to fall.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
Joseph has the misfortune of being the youngest. He symbolizes the Jewish condition. His brothers are older and stronger than he is. They resent his presence. They see him as a trouble maker. The fact that their father loves him only makes them angrier and more resentful.
Neither Yosef nor Yehudah panicked. They did not know how the next parsha would begin, but they did know that the larger story had to have a happy ending.
The Maharal reconciles the two Gemaras by explaining that indeed, normally, it is necessary to broadcast the miracle to the outside.
Hashem’s first words to the first Jew direct him to move to Israel. Though Avraham’s religious quest and commitment began decades earlier, the Torah skips those stories and begins with his move to Israel. Judaism begins with the arrival of the first Jew in Israel.
By Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel
As a conditional get is shrouded in controversy, many poskim preferred instead a conventional get.
A mourner whose hair grows long as a result of the prohibition against taking a haircut, or one who decides to become a nazir, is excused from any halachic concerns related to long hair or chatzitza.
The conception of beauty was a fundamental point of contention in the battle between the Jewish People and the Greeks. The Greeks did not believe in using the physical to reflect anything higher; they viewed physical beauty as an end unto itself.
In light of the war in Israel and antisemitism rising worldwide, we must make every effort to broadcast our Judaism proudly in the public square and to communicate to the world at large that we will not be intimidated into hiding our religion or religious practices.
During these times we have the ability, the power, and the energy to see and merit the miracles that Hashem did back then during the miraculous stories of the Maccabees, unto our very days today.
The volunteering spirit overcame his hesitations, and he left his unfinished job to answer the call for help. Danny was pleasantly surprised when he arrived at the scene of the vehicle on the side of the road. It was a Hatzalah ambulance that had conked out!
Even if I said then that it would be okay, that was to placate you, so long as it didn’t make a difference, but it doesn’t grant you rights beyond the contract when I need you at 9.
Honoring A Father’s Wishes ‘ He shall give it to whom he has trespassed.’ (Bava Kamma 40b)
When Tamar's life was threatened, she did not save herself by throwing Yehuda "under the bus".
Question: My husband and I are Ashkenazi, yet my children go to school with Sefardim. My son came home and said that only my husband is to light the Chanukah candles. In my parent’s home, we all lit our own candles on Chanukah to celebrate the great miracle that saved our people for all future generations. Who is correct? Name Withheld Via E-Mail
Torah teaches us that time is extremely precious, and every moment must be used to its fullest advantage. Why then do we use time to repeat things already known?
The lighting of the menorah was one mitzvah among many mitzvot, arguably not even the most important mitzvah, that had come to be neglected under the oppression of the Seleucid Greeks.
We can say Modim for our health. What about for our car and for our phone? Most of us would be crippled, so to speak, if we were missing just one of these. We could also incorporate into our Modim prayer that we are able to pay the mortgage or pay the rent.
As internal conflict over the Hebrew clan's direction leads to tragic consequences for Yosef and Yehuda, each must discover his own messianic potential.
By Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel
Unfortunately today we find ourselves embroiled in a milchemet mitzvah, a national security situation which threatens our very existence and demands everyone’s participation.
To become fully alive a person must have goals and aims that transcend himself. -Herbert A. Otto
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
In the end Joseph and his brothers had to live through real trauma before they were able to recognize one another’s humanity, and much of the rest of their story – the longest single narrative in the Torah – is about just that.
The potency of a mitzvah lies in the individual’s optimal and enthusiastic execution of the mitzvah with all the proper kavanos (intentions), including mastery of the laws pertaining to this particular mitzvah, and consummating the mitzvah to fulfill the will of Hashem.
Do "clothes make the woman"?
Before one prays, one must prepare for the experience. There must be a meditative time in which the individual focuses on the significance of the act that he is about to perform.
One excellent way to combat cognitive bias in relationship communication is to constantly work on not jumping to conclusions. No matter what we think we hear, or what we believe we know, we should be careful to ask for clarification before reacting.
The prophet Zecharia foretells of the Messianic Era – which will occur long after the Canaanites had ceased to exist as a nation – when there will no longer be any c’naani in the Holy Temple (Zecharia 14:21).
The rules of the dreidel game require each player to contribute some coins to a central fund, the proceeds of which are used to pay out the winners.
In essence the manner that we relate to tragic events is by empathizing with those who are affected as if it is us who are personally affected. This is called carrying the yoke of others upon ourselves.
We often choose to avoid confronting those who offend us. We are too hurt to speak it out, and doing so is uncomfortable. Unaddressed, though, our feelings fester and grow, and the hatred, distance, and demonization intensify.
To be honest there were many Shabbos mornings when I fell back to sleep without saying Kerias Shema, but it made a deep impression on me. Now, years later, I still try to be particular to say Shema before the earlier time.
How do we understand and perceive Hashem? Is Hashem within time and space, limited to this world alone, as Pantheists believe? Or is Hashem completely transcendent, beyond time, space, and this physical world, as many of the ancient philosophers believed?
As we read the book of Bereshit week after week, we see how to the naked eye it seems like things just got worse from chapter to chapter. Yet all the harsh events that befall the Jewish people, especially Joseph, we're all sent forth just to save Jacob and his family, and later the entire Jewish people.
From the outset, there was seething sibling rivalry that eventually erupted explosively. The sons of Leah regarded the sons of the maidservants Zilpah and Bilhah with disdain, and they hated Yosef.
During the night, there was a thunderstorm. Strong winds broke a large branch off a tree nearby. The branch fell on Ari’s car, damaging it significantly and breaking a car seat.
A Matter Of Anticipation ‘A Stone Flew From His Hand, And Another Put Out His Head from A Window …’ (Bava Kamma 33a)
Rashi brings from Chaza"l that the "Nachala" of Yaakov, as opposed to Avraham, is limitless.
We know that we are entering the final stages of ikvesa d’Meshicha – the footsteps of Mashiach. How long it will last we cannot know.
Question: I read your Q&A column, “Kaddish Elevates,” with great interest. However, I feel that there is something you left out: the appropriate phrases or pauses where we are to respond “Amen.” I have not seen why we don’t answer “Amen” after the phrase in Kaddish – Be’alma di’vera chir’utei – In the world He created according to His will.” Is this not one of the greatest praises – that Hashem gave us a world with such benefit that we at times don't understand that benefit. Are we not to acknowledge Hashem's greatness at all times irrespective of outcome? Menachem Via e-mail
We were so worried about those terrorists, but when we returned to the place that we had seen them, no one was in sight. That was miracle number one.
Rabbis reported that people are lighting Shabbat candles, purchasing and donning tefillin – some for the first time – saying the Shema prayer daily, and baking challah.
The Torah is ambiguous regarding who, exactly, is right in this story. Did, indeed, the brothers go too far? Did Yaakov face a battle shortly thereafter, as one midrash indicates? Were they both right on some level?
As Yaakov returns back home to his land, he and his family are met with new challenges that ultimately transform them into the nation of Israel.
The Yaros Devash teaches us that Yerushalayim is called Kisei Hashem, the Throne of Hashem.
By Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel
A report issued after Protective Edge by high-level military officials, including top generals from the U.S. and Europe, found that Israel’s conduct in the 2014 Gaza Conflict met and in some respects exceeded the highest standards we set for our own nations’ militaries.
One might wonder, why is it all worth it? Why work to attain a higher intellectual or spiritual level if it incurs greater liability.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
It is one thing to commit a crime, another to witness someone committing a crime and failing to prevent it. We might hold a bystander guilty, but not in the same degree.
“Flattery is all right if you don't inhale.” -Adlai E. Stevenson
Ya'akov's youth resembles that of his passive and isolated[…] father, his adult life resembles the trials and tribulations of Abraham among the nations.
You may be a wonderful, accomplished, and successful individual, but as long as you are not on speaking terms with your own sibling, you will not be whole. As long as a family is torn by mistrust and conflict, none of its members can be whole.
The Arizal finds not only this earthly, historic struggle in these passages but the roots of corruption in Creation.
R’ Dancziger points out that our sages tell us that before all else Yaakov Avinu prayed, not that he did teshuva. We would think that repentance would have been the more instinctive response if Yaakov Avinu thought he might have sinned. Why did he engage in prayer?
In Modern Hebrew, the term miklat came to refer to a bomb shelter, which likewise receives those fleeing air raids and protects them.
Most people believe that they “have” a soul, some spiritual essence they possess within themselves. However, the deeper Jewish sources reveal a profound spiritual secret: You don’t have a soul, you are a soul.
Even the one honored with lighting the menorah in the synagogue is required to light the menorah again at home, as the mitzvah of lighting the Chanuka menorah is discharged only when performed in one's home.
The Italians enjoy their pasta, the Eskimos live in the snow, and we thrive with prayer!
Though we are motivated to be proud of our country Israel, on a personal level when it involves one’s family it is best to be safe and not invite danger in displaying the Israeli flag outside one’s home.
We cannot ignore the fact that everything is coming from the Torah at the exact time. The Torah teaches us where to look for guidance, support and anything we need.
October 16, 2026 
