יום רביעי, ה׳ תשרי תשפ״זWednesday, September 16, 2026
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Only someone out of his mind would disparage and spurn someone for no reason at all.
The road to any success is no less important than the success itself.
For Everything There Is A Time And A Moment
There is an important teaching here for those who seek to have legitimate grievances addressed.
Four million people died worldwide, and despite everything, somewhere in New York City, a secretary at Yeshiva Darchei Torah was looking for the address of a family in Israel to return the small sum they paid for lunches.
Not only were they saved from an immediate death sentence, but they were able to survive the war with additional sustenance,
How can I curse, says Bil’am, that which G-d did not curse? What rage can I bring against those whom Hashem will not rage against?
Just like Bilaam, we grow angry and blame others for our failings, for our inability to realize our goals, we blame circumstance and fate for our shortcomings when it is really our inability to see that has caused our failures.
Even at the height of personal anguish it's still possible to demonstrate such sensitivity.
The Ammonites are not interested in learning the truth - they only want to destroy Israel.
Because of the War of Independence and establishment of the state, the event was postponed and never took place. My grandmother would always say that she somehow felt that her life was missing something.
Why must the heifer be red? Scripture likens sin to red because, when a person sins, he forfeits his blood.
R' Chanina was accustomed to experiencing miracles, and therefore he did not fear the bite of the snake.
Precisely because the work that the second-generation did take place was less dramatic and required human participation that it created its own more organic resilience, making it a better model
We believe in nonsense and promote ridiculous ideas that can’t be rationally defended and refute themselves as quickly as we utter them.
The good influence a Jewish woman can have is most effectively exerted in her home, the strongest fortress for moral values.
If we hold him by the hand, who will remove him from our protection?
By Guest Author
Before summarily dismissing Korach, let's first allow him to speak and examine his claims – perhaps they will allow us to understand whence his self-immolating uprising.
Rashi explains that the Torah coupled these two incidents together on purpose, in order for us to notice that the spies saw what happened to Miriam, but did not learn a lesson from it. In his words: "And these wicked people witnessed it, but did not learn their lesson."
In the case of Yaakov, there was already a covenant with Hashem and mutual expectations.
They thought that if Hashem was sending them to scout the land, it must be that there were alternatives to invading and conquering it.
Bigness is measured from the chin down, but greatness is measured from the chin up. A person may be the biggest and tallest player in the NBA and still be a mental midget.
Why twelve? If what is really important is the number ten, God could have theoretically created anywhere from eleven to nineteen tribes, and we would still have had decision-making with a majority of ten...
When my father visited Russia, Jews there asked him: 'How many are marching for us in America?' He was embarrassed to tell them how few there were.
Rav Ovadia said, “So for me it’s permissible, but for you it’s prohibited?”
He that can work is born to be king of something. -Thomas Carlyle
The true mark of humility is the ability to accept criticism and be a tolerant person, even to those who mistreat and verbally abuse you.
By Guest Author
Why do we need both Hashem and Moshe to inform us that we're moving forward once again? Wouldn't one method, presumably the divine one, be sufficient?
When Ahron saw the nesi’im give their gifts for the Mishkan he felt bad that his shevet did not have a part in the gifts to the Mishkan.
If the field workers assist us in fulfilling the mitzvot associated with agriculture in the Land of Israel, the caregivers assist us in the mitzvot associated with honoring our parents.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to suggest that the whole reason God created man, male and female, was for us to better understand our relationship with Him.
It’s more important for me not to disappoint a fellow Jew.
The Chasmonaim were punished because they wrongfully adopted a calling that wasn’t theirs.
It's not normal to permit a reality such as this, and those living near the Gaza border have put up with it for 20 years.
By Guest Author
In last week’s parashah, Hashem spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai. Now, it's referred to as the Desert of Sinai. Is that the same place? Since the people haven't departed the mountain yet, it must be. Yet if so, why change the reference from "mountain" to "desert"?
After my son, Rabbi Eitam, was murdered with his wife in a terrorist attack, I told my students that no one promised me that G-d is an ATM machine.
From what spiritual impurity are we being cleansed and how does counting sefirah effect this cleansing?
Even before Matan Torah, Jews studied Torah. From the days of Avraham, there never ceased to be a Torah academy among them.
Since the commandments are all meant to engender some positive effect; when a commandment is not practiced, that effect will not be attained either.
The intent of the prayer is to teach us to give thanks for surviving potentially life-threatening situations.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe emphasized that Reb Shimon was completely secluded from the world for over a decade. Now, upon returning to civilization, he immediately searches for a way to help without waiting for anyone to ask him.
R’ Yisroel Salanter asks: Would escorting him and giving him provisions have prevented his murder?
By Guest Author
Why interrupt the halachic flow of Vayikra, a Chumash suspended in time with almost no dateable events, to tell us about a single foul-mouthed boor?
These three years are meant to atone for Adam's sin – the sin of impatience.
The Kapishnitzer Rebbe promised her that her son would return to the fold very soon.
Logically, they knew that people in their situation are exempt. But as they witnessed all the other Jews performing such a great mitzvah, it deeply bothered them that they couldn’t join them.
Living at the height of European Romanticism and on the cusp of Nietzsche’s writings – which both contributed to a new much more pronounced interest in the individual – Netziv surely intuited the need to address the legitimate aspects of trends making inroads upon his students.
This is greatness. Not to be content with an individual solution that is beneficial only to yourself, but rather to change the accepted way things are done so that all may benefit from your experience.
One who wishes to avoid lashon hara and its consequences will constantly seek to find the good in others.
Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye. -Samuel Johnson
Will we still remember the importance of eating healthy now that we can again eat whatever we want outside?
You can imagine how great this person’s joy would be upon hearing this news and how he would count the days to his release from prison and his marriage to the princess.
When R’ Lopian finished speaking, the disciples were astounded to see their rebbe, R’ Schwadron, lie face down on the ground.
'--and Why We Avoid it Nonetheless
Freedom is not only about rights or privileges, but also about responsibilities.
The Hebrew word for despairing – me’ya’eish – is spelled with two yuds, which spell the name of Hashem.
The Rebbe wasn’t worrying about Lubavitcher chassidim, chassidim in general, or even observant Jews – he was worrying about one Jew who may be isolated from Torah in one corner of the world!
Freedom is the ability to strive to find the good where no one else sees it. And also to articulate it, with passion.
If the malach wouldn’t have struck him, Nevuchadnezzar would have disgraced all of David HaMelech’s praises and songs in Sefer Tehillim.
The Four Questions were composed as a prelude for the father to fulfill his biblical obligation. But what often happens is that a big to-do surrounds the Four Questions while the answers are not given the attention they deserve.
Although there is a strong basis for our propensity to be more stringent on Pesach than we are during the rest of the year, we should not turn that into a blanket attitude in which stringency is always followed, regardless of the other values at stake
The Shechinah is [so to speak] together with the Jewish people when they are in exile, and when they’re redeemed, Almighty G-d has dictated a redemption for Himself as well. He will come out of exile with them.
Hashem seeks people who are willing to subjugate their hearts to Him.
I never thought I would get so excited over a conversation with friends around a dinner table. I never was so enthusiastic about candies thrown at the bridegroom when he received an aliyah to the Torah.
Korbanot, a Once and Future Aspect of Temple Service
How far we are from those distant halachic discussions regarding a public oven for several families...
When the incident was related to R’ Tzvi Pesach Frank, he remarked, “This young girl is destined for greatness.”
The determination of who’s Jewish comes from Almighty G-d. No human being, or body of human beings, can make this determination.
If Dan is the extreme expression of Yosef in the same way that Shimon is of Yehuda, what was the importance of appointing tribesmen of Yehuda and Dan to lead the construction of the Mishkan?
The easiest way out of my problem would be to say that the Mishkan was designed based on people’s need to be impressed
A mistake that nearly had catastrophic results for the entire people of Israel ultimately revealed Moshe's true greatness as a national leader.
We are supposed to prepare for the 14th of Nissan, the day of the Exodus from Egypt. To study the holiday, to go through the Haggadah and, mainly, to go forth into freedom ourselves.
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day. -Abraham Lincoln
You won’t understand the logic of events as they occur because “My face may not be seen.”
Haman has oceans of honor but he’s lacking one drop. Everyone bows down to him, but he needs Mordechai to bow down, too. If not, all the honor he has received means nothing.
The great R’ Elchonon Wasserman noted that children form the foundation of the Jewish nation.
By submerging individual identity into the collective Hebrew nation, the kohanim work to cleanse the children of Israel from all transgressions and to inspire the people with a powerful show of kedusha.
Halacha tells us to obey the law of the land (Nedarim 28a), but this instruction applies only to material matters, not to spiritual matters.
Yet, if Mordechai teaches us that doubt is no reason for inaction, it is Esther that teaches us that it is actually a reason for even more effort
He had the vision to see how his seemingly ordinary activity would create something big and important.
What can the Mishkan teach us about the ways Divine revelation is channeled into our world?
Light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make it beautiful. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Jew’s life is supposed to be governed by deliberation, forethought, mental preparedness, and understanding, not impulsivity or “living for the moment.”
Chabad Chassidus explains that Amalek represents a person who “knows his Master yet intends to rebel against him.” The commandment to remember Amalek calls on us to rid ourselves of any inclination toward this kind of behavior.
Our multicultural world might object to the idea any culture must be completely destroyed; the Torah disagrees
Celebrate what you want to see more of. -Thomas J. Peters
If you honor and esteem the values of your parents, you will merit long life since you will then have created a bridge between the past and the future and they will unite without interruption.
How should we understand the difference between the Written Torah and the Oral Torah within the context of Israel's identity and development?
We sat on a bench, and he spoke to me about how Hashem guides everything happening in the world. When we see something unusual, in particular, we should realize hashgacha pratis is at work.
Our sages note that “gemilus chassadim” is an interesting phrase because the root of “gemilus” means to finish.
But the Torah was given to real people, for whom love of the outsider would not always be so obvious.
Many family members of those who died from the pandemic speak of having missed out where their departed loved one is concerned. Nehora did not miss out.
Why were the Hebrews so surprised by the sudden news that they would receive the Torah in the form of a set of laws & a mission for the rest of humanity?
As a result of her effort to remain unobtrusive, she was hardly known among the Rebbe’s followers, which is amazing considering the central role of her husband, the Rebbe, in world Jewry.
Moshe to teach and/or judge the people in the fullest proper way, he would have to learn each person on the fly, quickly get a sense of the litigants in a case, the students in a shiur, and try to individualize his approach
Rav Kreiswirth would say, “This young man is my Gan Eden.”
By two wings a man is lifted up from things earthly: by simplicity and purity. -Thomas Kempis
In the days of radical change and revolution, everyone is swept outside. Private matters are pushed off, family life does not merit any attention, no one thinks it’s time to invest in the home.
Between the smashing of Egypt's military at the Sea of Reeds and the war against Amalek at Rephidim, the Hebrews had to develop a national perception of Emuna in preparation for receiving the Torah.
The Mechilta D’Rebbi Yishmael comments that the Torah can only be elucidated by those who ate from the mahn.
September 11, 2026 
