יום שני, י״ז תשרי תשפ״זMonday, September 28, 2026
Follow Us
The minhag of washing the Cohen's hands for Birkat Kohanim is not arbitrary.
We are not created as a finished product, but, rather, with the need and responsibility to develop ourselves properly.
Question: Is one allowed to go to Madam Tassaud’s Wax Museum? Is this not a violation of the Torah’s prohibition of graven images? Ben Moseson Via email
In front of me the story of Am Yisrael came alive. The world may proclaim our end but here we are. One must only kindle the flame. The spark is never extinguished.
The guiding factor is that Hashem did not make anything without a reason. If a certain reality exists, then it must be another opportunity to add in avodas Hashem – the service of G-d.
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
Some commentators state that it is simply a way of complimenting his fine character. Others connect the praise more directly to his mother. But why should his mother get the credit for his character?
Through Israel's returns home and national rebirth, we have already seen sparks of prophecy return.
Each of the leaders of the tribes brings a gift which is identical to the gifts of every other one. The Torah relates the gift of each and every tribe in detail, in spite of the fact that they are all the same.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
To be a Jew is to seek to make a difference, to change lives for the better, to heal some of the scars of our fractured world. But people don’t like change.
Only when we negate our egos and acknowledge that the goodness and beracha in our lives comes not from our own independent efforts but from Hashem, can we then receive more beracha.
A person should walk in the ways of Hashem and accord mercy and kindness to people and other members of Creation.
It would seem to me that the controversy centers on why we should say ‘please’ or ‘now’ just by this blessing and not by the other requests in our Shemone Esrei, such as to forgive us, or to cure us.
When we think of people who, in a healthy state, go through radical changes and stages, we know of whom we think, and it is not the middle aged or retirees.
It is noted that in past generations there were very few individuals who had semicha, let alone were practicing rabbis, while today everyone seems to have semicha.
In this passage, three different words are used for “rope” or “string”: chevel, tikvah, and chut. This essay attempts to trace the etymology of those words, seeking to clarify exactly how they relate to one another.
The more complicated question is whether we should give our children a smartphone at all or at a young age.
When it comes to both parenting and teaching, we don’t like to watch children make mistakes. We also don’t like having to take the time and energy to enforce the consequences of those mistakes.
According to our Sages there are seven layers in Heaven (this is where the expression seventh heaven comes from). The fifth layer is called Ma'on, and it is from this layer that simcha originates.
He continued with his barrage of insults, which The Jewish Press surely would find unfit to print, and this was in front of the whole congregation. Thousands of men became silent, trying to understand what Reb Chaim did to deserve such treatment.
Question: Is one allowed to go to Madam Tassaud’s Wax Museum? Is this not a violation of the Torah’s prohibition of graven images? Ben Moseson Via email
At the time of Megillas Rus, the Yovel – Jubilee year – was in force, replied Rabbi Dayan. If a person sold a field that was his sedei achuza – ancestral heritage from when the Land of Israel was first divided – it would return to him in Yovel.
Last Will And Testament “A Deathbed Request Is As Sealed And Delivered” (Gitin 14b)
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
Perhaps, instead of framing these as debates in terms of which one is superior (intelligence versus character, fluid intelligence versus crystallized intelligence), it would be beneficial to take a different approach to this issue.
Throughout life, a Jew is to always stand strong in the face of challenges and to choose to climb the mountain of Hashem.
We are asked to make Kiddush over wine and we are told that wine can make one wise (Yoma 76b). But enjoying anything in moderation requires self-control and sometimes, when that becomes too difficult, the only way out is to deny oneself the pleasure altogether.
If a person is wealthy enough to own a field, why would he think that he would be able to keep the corner of the field, which is designated for poor people? Presumably, he would be excluded from the corner of any field, let alone his own!
Boaz wasn’t sure if he would be the “go’el”, the redeemer, for Elimelech’s estate...
Once we understand the concept of time, and the distinct opportunity and importance of tapping into the unique theme of each point of time in the systematic process of ascension, we must delve into the specific theme that Shavuos presents.
Talmud Torah is not just the world’s purpose; it is also the Jewish peoples. As the mishna in Avot (2:8) tells us, If you have learned much Torah, do not take special credit; it is why you were created.
That HaShem forgoes His Honor for the sake of making peace between man and wife comes to teach us the importance of humbling our own egos for the sake of making our relationships work.
As franchisees of Shell Oil, the Raffs had to sell a certain amount of fuel to be eligible for loans and other company benefits. Alas, a filling station that cannot pump gas is what rain is to a garden wedding.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
We do not need to prove ourselves in order to receive a blessing from G-d. All we need to know is that His face is turned toward us.
The Three Days of Preparation and the Festival of the Giving of our Torah indeed come once a year, but there is a small-scale version of this preparation and of Matan Torah every day.
R’ David opens his remarks on Shavuot by examining the word Anochi that he identifies with the essence of truth – the secret code revealing His G-dliness, the nexus of His inscrutable justice.
Why do some many people behave in such a paradoxical way? The answer is simple. When a spouse or a parent compliments their mate or their child, the act is about the other person.
During the years when the commercial was popular, my Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Berel Wein, quipped, What can you expect from a generation whose slogan is to ‘Be like Mike’?
The popularity and interest in pursuing semicha studies has surged in recent years, and there is even a widespread practice for men to make an effort to receive semicha before marriage. This is true even if one has no intention of serving professionally as a rabbi.
Various prohibitions in the Torah use the word lo when mentioning a proscribed act while the rabbis instead use the word bal.
Since the minhag of Klal Yisrael has been to stay up all Shavuos night and learn Torah in preparation for our yearly reacceptance of the Torah, it is definitely proper to fulfill the minhag.
By dvora
My childhood was filled with a tremendous amount of stress and abuse. By the time I was three years old, that stress had manifested in a physical illness, Crohn’s disease.
Mr. Eisner arranged to meet with Rabbi Dayan. He showed him the terms-of-use agreement and asked: Are these terms acceptable and binding according to halacha? Do the borrowers need to sign?
Repulsive And Disgraceful “The Holy One … Does Not Cause Mishaps To The Righteous” (Gittin 7a)
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
In the previous mishna, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai cautioned against the dangers of self-praise. In contrast, here he explicitly praises his students, naming what he perceives as their signature qualities.
THE DEBATE OVER CNN'S TOWN HALLBY RABBI EFREM GOLDBERG
When the Kotel was returned to us in 1967, we heard Hashem’s call to reconnect with Him. The state founded 19 years earlier took on new meaning.
A people's army is necessary for Israel to fulfill the Divine commandment of sovereignty over our land.
Question: Is one allowed to go to Madam Tassaud’s Wax Museum? is this not a violation of the Torah’s prohibition of graven images? Ben Moseson Via email
The Jews reckoned that the giving of the Torah, the fiftieth level, was so sublime and beyond their reach that the best preparation would be to sleep and thus enable the soul to be unfettered by the physical body.
WHY YOU SHOULD CELEBRATE YOM YERUSHALAYIM
It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living. -Jean Jacques Rousseau
Although we likely take it for granted that berachos are a pillar of our daily lives, they have not always existed as they do now. Until the Second Temple era, there was no standard set of berachos or prayer.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
The service of the Priests in the Temple was accompanied by silence. The Levites sang in the courtyard, but the Priests – unlike their counterparts in other ancient religions – neither sang nor spoke while offering the sacrifices.
There is no question that the nations of the world can trace their lineage; rather, their association with it is tenuous. They are not especially proud of their ancestors, and each succeeding generation believes they are wiser and more progressive than those who preceded them.
Consider the fact that when we pray, we are conversing with the Creator of the universe, the One who holds the key to life and death, the One who can grant our deepest desires. Shouldn’t we be even more focused and mindful during our prayer than during a job interview?
One school of thought is that Shavuos is the yahrzeit of Dovid HaMelech. Therefore, we lein Megillas Rus which reveals to us the wonderful beginnings of Dovid HaMelech.
We always have to be striving to climb our personal Har Sinai – a climb to the peak which is not too overwhelming and daunting to the top.
The word midbar appears approximately 270 times in the Bible and is often attached to a proper place-name, like Midbar Sinai, Midbar Sin, Midbar Paran, Midbar Shur, Midbar Kadesh, Midbar Damesek, Midbar Ein-Gedi, and Midbar Yehuda.
Marriage is a mitzvah. But so is divorce. Marriage is a mitzvah we look forward to fulfilling. Divorce is one of the many mitzvos – like cities of refuge and eglah arufah – that we hope we’ll never have to deal with.
Indeed, we are sympathetic to the creative, original, strong, rebellious heroes who did not accept the status quo, who followed the rebellious artists Delacroix and Courbet, and forged their own path forward. We benefit from them to this day, as a visit to art museums in cities around the world will demonstrate.
In order to preserve the child’s respect for the institution and its instructors, the parent must exhibit that respect in the child’s presence.
We are taught that addressing one's teachers by their first name is so severe an offense that the Talmud labels one who does so as an apikores – one who has distanced himself from Jewish norms.
We all have the same father, we all have the same goals and purpose, which is to serve the Almighty in the best way possible.
The Sages mistakenly interpreted this refusal as an egotistically motivated desire to maintain a monopoly, and they summarily fired the entire Garmu family.
By Eliana Klein
His oldest daughter, aka my granddaughter, had given the bright orange rubber bracelet to him several days earlier, and not wishing to insult her, he was still wearing it. It had been distributed by Hatzalah and their number was printed prominently on it.
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
Praise is not the goal. The goal is to live a life of values and integrity. Praise may be a byproduct of such strivings, but it is ancillary.
If I had my way, I'd redeem it tomorrow! responded Shimon. I'm simply not interested in being a partner in the bond!
A Wonder Worm “When The Temple Was Destroyed The Shamir…Ceased” (Sotah 48a-b)
Especially given our Western culture, it’s spiritually far healthier to get married in one’s early twenties, as most frum people today do. But then you’re stuck working in the opposite direction of the Torah’s formula! As a community, is there any way we can get back on track?
Indeed, the only way to be convinced that our existence depends on G-d's help and not solely on our own efforts, is to try it out.
The lists of ten are uniquely significant because the number ten symbolizes something full and complete. These lists appear in historical order.
Question: My mother-in-law, who was visiting her son (my brother-in-law), a medical doctor, had an accident. When she requested her son to remove the shard, he refused to do so...
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai told his students that everything depends on the affability between us. Love and unity and affability are the foundation of everything.
Israel's deep spiritual connection to our homeland – like the connection of the soul to the body – transcends all rational human understandings.
Israel must organize its society in such a way that reflects Hebrew values while transcending the friction between conflicting economic models.
The Previous Rebbe explained that “Pesach Sheni teaches us that Nito Kein Farfallen – Nothing is ever lost: it’s never too late!
First, gird yourself with the middah of bitachon; then you can do good. Fidelity and devotion to Hashem are foundations upon which a person can build his life.
If someone were to ask you to prove that you exist, you would seriously struggle to do so. One’s own existence simply cannot be rationally proven.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
Where families are strong, a sense of altruism exists that can be extended outward, from family to friends to neighbors to community and from there to the nation as a whole.
The meaning of a kingdom of priests is that each community has a leader which is most honored in it, and serves as its exemplar that people in that community follow, and they find the straight path through him.
It would seem to me that the word slach points to the former opinion – that it is a total forgiveness, since it is the same letters as the word chasal, which means to ‘finish completely.’
Originally, before its modern association with Sefirat HaOmer, Pirkei Avot consisted of only five chapters. This is why, for example, the Rambam’s commentary only addresses the first five. In this spirit there are also, of course, five books of the Torah.
As mentioned last week, the Bible actually uses both regimah and sekilah in the case of Achan (Joshua 7:25). Rashi explains that this is because Achan himself was subjected to regimah, while the animals he took as booty were subjected to sekilah (see also Targum and Radak there).
Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky notes that in the post-Holocaust years there was an unverbalized message conveyed to every child that he/she was vital to the Jewish cause. As a nation we had lost so much and had endured such utter devastation and destruction that every individual was crucial for our efforts to rebuild.
Some mistakenly believe that using a multi-wick candle is a requirement, citing the wording of the blessing Borei me’orei ha’eish (Who creates the lights of fire) as proof for this position.
Some students may thrive in a secular university because they may be called upon to take on leadership roles in a religious capacity, such as to help make the minyan or to arrange Torah study opportunities, when they might not be able do so in a Jewish college setting when there are already plenty of minyanim and Torah study opportunities.
I have been going to Meron for so many years, over 20 years on this special day, I cannot imagine this day anywhere else but by Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's side. I felt hugged, I felt loved, I felt protected, and I felt like the heavens were opened wide to all my heart's desires.
While, it’s very sad that so many people have to wait so long for their bashert, predominantly, it isn’t their fault. We try to find reasons why people aren’t married and tell them if only they tried this segulah, that event, that matchmaker, this person… they would be married.
By Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Schiffman
The challenge is when perceived reality doesn’t map onto the system of justice. What do we think when confronted with a situation when someone seems to be suffering for no fault of their own?
Ben Azai teaches that it’s best not to consider which mitzvot are greater or lesser in value to the one who performs them because from beginning to do mitzvot one will add on more mitzvot, but if he does an aveira, then G-d forbid he may begin traveling down the other path.
Last year, when you made the bonfire, the smoke wafted heavily toward us, said Mr. Wasser. I found it quite intolerable!
The Impropriety Of Flattery “They Flattered King Agrippas” (Sotah 41b)
An individual who is miserly and jealous of others’ material prosperity will not truly want them to be blessed.
Even with night school, Avraham remained only nominally educated, but he was high on motivation. So high that he taught himself to become a CPA and then returned to the very office where he had started, at the very lowest rung.
Question: What if one counted the omer but forgot to utter the blessing – has the obligation been fulfilled? Why do we recite a blessing for this counting, when we find that for the zayin nekiyim – the seven clean days – there is no such blessing? Is the counting not similar? M. Goldman Miami Beach, Fla
September 25, 2026 
