יום שישי, י״א תמוז תשפ״וFriday, June 26, 2026
Follow Us
Terms agreed upon before the beginning of a rental are binding even without a kinyan since the rental usage itself serves as a kinyan for the agreed-upon terms.
Reaching One’s Objective ‘… The One in Thought and the Other Silently’ (Zevachim 41b)
Hashem’s ownership over the land has halachic implications as well. It is how the Torah (Vay. 25:23) explains why the Yovel year keeps us from selling land permanently. The land is Hashem’s; we are merely subletters.
Kayin understood that if Hashem would not help him, he had no hope of remaining alive.
Chani tried to view this dispassionately. Why wouldn’t he date her? Lieba was a sweet, pretty girl from a good family.
Why should we think that the nations of the world will be convinced when we prove our ownership through reference to the Torah? As it stands, so many people either do not believe in G-d or in His interest in the affairs of human beings. So why should they be compelled by this argument?
Much has been written about the theatrical elements of his “reign” and the popular tolerance that allowed a self-declared emperor to roam a major American city free of serious harassment.
This, even though in the course of her campaign for Attorney General, Ms. James – who was a leader in the legal assault on Trump – herself declared that she was running in order to bring Donald Trump down.
We coronate Hakadosh Baruch Hu and ask for His forgiveness together, not as individuals. Hashem is truly king only when we coronate Him together.
In a journey to the self, all that we know is the starting point; the destination remains to be discovered. We don’t know what we’ll find along the journey, the challenges we’ll face, what people will think, or if we will even succeed.
The reason that the Left needs to promote the lie of Israeli genocide is that it absolves Hamas of the guilt of their actual genocide and it justifies their pledge of repeating it.
The revenues that Hamas controlled were large enough to transform Gaza into a thriving Mediterranean enclave – a model for Palestinian society. But the Islamist group chose a different path. Prioritizing terrorism and military spending, it invested staggering sums in tunnels and weapons, including rockets and rocket factories.
While we can appreciate their dilemma, it is nonetheless dismaying that they have failed to distance themselves from some of his beyond the pale positions.
The one thing that has not changed is how careful we are and need to be when handling an esrog. The Medrash relates that the esrog symbolizes the heart, which reflects our emotions. We always have to be vigilant and mindful of the feelings of others, and we also need to be cognizant of, and honest about, our own emotions.
The Thirteen Middos are more than a prayer formula; they are a blueprint for our personal transformation.
Some of my family’s most joyous memories come from those last few minutes of the Seder, when there are just one or two pages left to turn. We’re about to finish the penultimate song, and we get to its very last stanza – Who knows thirteen?
Everyone was so focused on my brother becoming bar mitzvah that no one remembered it was my birthday too! A milestone birthday. I had become a teenager.
For me as a youngster I couldn't wait to turn thirteen. I would finally be a TEENAGER. The world was going to open up for me.
On a mystical level, 13 is not merely not unlucky, it represents fullness, holiness, and unity, specifically the unity of Hashem.
One widely made anti-Israel argument is that its alleged withholding or conditioning aid to Gaza as part of its war against Hamas amounts to collective punishment because it impacts negatively on the innocent as well as the guilty. But the thing is, the same collective punishment argument has not been directed at Hamas where it actually does apply.
In principle, when purchasing items, payment is due when taking title or possession of the item, replied Rabbi Dayan. Therefore, the immediate payment price is usually viewed halachically as the true price.
Call To Alms ‘Having Declared It a Burnt Offering, He Rethought…’ (Zevachim 30a)
Not only is the sukkah a sign of our emunah in Hashem, but when we hold the lulav and esrog in our hand and shake them back and forth we are declaring, Just as the species cannot exist without You, Hashem, so too we are totally dependent on You.
The more responsible our choices → self-esteem strengthens → ego shrinks → perspective widens → more of reality comes into view → our madreigah rises → bitachon deepens.
Since the Moskowitzes already knew and adored him, it was no big deal to pick Lieba up. Greeting her parents was friendly and informal, not the usual farher-by-the-father type of meeting.
By Marc Gronich
The new street sign is under a beautiful tree on the corner ready for someone to look up and get some shade and think about what Rabbi Halpern did for the shul, Rabbi Perelson added.
The Jewish people have had highs and lows, including moments when our future seemed bleak. Our focus on our children and raising them according to Torah values ensured our continued survival and success.
Throughout history, Torah has at times stood as a Divine, untouchable document, and at other times woven into the currents of Jewish experience, carried and shaped by the people of Israel. Its dual nature – both Divine and national – has been reflected in every generation’s approach to learning, observance, and communal life.
Question: I recently moved to a new neighborhood where the predominance of synagogue options that are to my personal satisfaction pray in Nusach Sefard. However, when it comes Chol HaMoed, I am faced with being one of the few who don tefillin. What am I to do? Sam Schwartz Via E-mail
Hirszenberg was born in Łódź, in the Russian partition of Poland, the eldest son of a poor Jewish weaver, who was initially opposed to Samuel's artistic ambitions, which were viewed as incompatible with the values of traditional Jewish life.
Both the letter and resolution stipulate a demilitarized state with Hamas playing no role, but as noted, that is a pipe-dream and essentially just a wave to political correctness.
If a teacher wants to share a deep principle with his or her students, they might share a story or analogy that depicts the idea through a more relatable medium. While the mashal does not fully convey the idea itself, it leads the listener toward it, aiding him or her in the process of understanding.
By Zvi S. Rosen
One would have to be a moral idiot to think the death of 60,000, many of them fighters, is worth comparing or mentioning in the same breath as the industrial murder of 6,000,000 based on ethnicity.
A person who understands that his happiness and success are not dependent on anything material but only on his level of morality and attachment to G-d is truly free.
It was especially haunting to see this image: Rabbi Daniel Walker, who valiantly protected his synagogue and tended to his congregants amidst the horrific violence, wearing his traditional white kittel, stained by blood at the bottom. And yet, in the face of this terrible destruction, we see another model of holiness. Sometimes, when the evil cannot be banished, the High Priest must deal with it directly, even if he gets bloodied in the process.
For decades, Britain opened its doors to mass migration from Muslim-majority countries. Many of these immigrants have become part of the national fabric, however, successive governments refused to build an integration strategy. Instead, they embraced a shallow multiculturalism, encouraging communities to live side by side, rather than together.
Today, Chol HaMoed looks different. It’s about the kids. Taking them to the local jumping place, the orchard, or up to the mountains for air that feels fresher somehow when it’s wrapped in Yom Tov.
By Avi Ganz
Chol HaMoed represents the weekdays or mundane days of the holiday. It isn't less holiday and more mundane, but they are a time to see the festival as it manifests beyond the days during which creative activity is forbidden.
By Keshet Starr
When I think about Chol HaMoed trips, part of what comes to mind is pressure. Pressure to have the best, most exciting trips ever – while also cleaning up from Yom Tov, preparing for the next Yom Tov, and, oh right, working!
In Beit Shemesh we had the Rock and Soul Festival which I usually performed in. So, then we would not go on a trip during the day.
By Hillel Fuld
On these strange days, people have different customs. Some people don’t write, for example, while others do. The one thing that all Jews have in common is that on those days, there is a lot of quality family time.
To be sure, we continue to believe Hamas perpetrated the Oct. 7 massacre primarily to derail the Abraham Accords.
From our very inception, our existence was a miracle. Avram was unable to have children at his advanced age, but Avraham, the Av hamon goyim, the father of all nations, who spread the message of monotheism worldwide, was able to have a child.
The late Rabbi Dr. Lord Jonathan Sacks, during Germany’s attempted ban on brit milah in 2012, pointed out the root of the problem. He deemed the move to be an attack on the Jewish people.
It does mean that we must not conflate the fallibility of leaders with the infallibility of the Torah itself.
Like the other peace initiatives, the Palestinians have been offered over the past decades, the problem is that it’s by no means clear that they regard a chance to end their long war against the Jewish presence in the land of Israel or even the latest chapter of it that began two years ago as a desirable outcome.
If one does teshuvah because of his love for Hashem, then willful sins are actually converted into meritorious deeds.
Though the loss of even one soldier or civilian is a tragedy, we must recognize the miraculous way Hashem has protected the Jewish people over the past two years.
Chazal observe that lifespan, children, and livelihood are not contingent on merit or effort but on mazal. In these matters, we usually need to do what is considered to be the normal hishtadlus.
When the Torah restates the mitzvot of Sukkot in Devarim (17) – although it doesn’t actually mention there the mitzvah of sukkah (!) – Rabbeinu Bachye discusses some of the hidden aspects of this mitzvah, particularly as they relate to the mitzvah of rejoicing on the holiday and in the context of all the major pilgrimage holidays under discussion there.
Chani appraised the self-righteous young woman, who herself looked rather unkempt in her baggy clothing, scuffed shoes, and unruly haircut. Was the ink even dry on her diploma? What did this young woman’s own apartment look like, that would give her the right to pass judgment?
The Baal HaTanya writes that on Rosh Hashanah all the Heavenly Hosts sit in Shamayim and wait longingly to hear one Yid praise another. Why? Because in that moment when he does so, the angels take those good words and place them on his scale of merits.
With no rest for the weary, Sukkot begins on the Monday evening following Shabbat Parshat Ha’azinu.
Indeed, the October 7 massacre was no more and no less than a blip on the radar screen for Hamas, which has been waging war against Israel since its creation in 1987 – in Israel proper and against the Jews the world over, and against the Western nations as well.
By way of analogy, in Tefillah Zakkah we recite that our fasting on Yom Kippur, and the consumption of the fats and blood volume from our body during the fast, should be considered as if we offered the fat and blood of a sacrifice on the altar.
I appreciate your willingness to put in the work. You are happy to do the “right thing.” You just don’t know what that is anymore.
We should not feel like we are martyrs suffering for our children, for, after all, Judaism opposes human sacrifice.
What makes this edition even more significant is its place in the history of Hebrew printing.
One of the problems with the Mabit’s position that the Chida focuses on is how Moses was able to name his son Eliezer, if that name is clearly from the time before Abraham (as we mentioned)?
By Mendi Glik
For those of you who are hearing about them for the first time, run to YouTube or Spotify right after Havdalah. Your Chol HaMoed travels are going to be a lot of fun – their music and rhythm are very upbeat.
If you never finalized the price, I’m not sure the esrog is yours… the avreich said thoughtfully. You may not be able to use it, because you must own the esrog on the first day. You should ask Rabbi Dayan!
This “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality can occur at every wealth level. You will never be able to earn your way out of this approach to life.
An Aging Problem? ‘I Have Chosen Him to Stand, But Not to Sit’ (Zevachim 23b)
Question: I hope you will not mind answering several questions regarding the mitzvah of sitting in the sukkah. What is the reason for this mitzvah? Are we required to sit in a sukkah whenever we eat? Is one allowed to travel during the week of the holiday to a place where no sukkah is available? Moshe Jakobowitz Brooklyn, N.Y.
The long-term consequences of Carter’s engagement with groups like Hamas were reflected not just in diplomatic circles, but also in the shifting narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within American discourse.
While there may have been some apparent or technical irregularities on Trump’s part, they never rose to the level of violations about which anyone makes into a federal case.
That history is worth remembering now. It is what happens when leaders handcuff the police and abandon law-abiding citizens. And it will happen again if Mamdani wins the mayoralty. The cycle will repeat, and more brutally than before.
We first experience Elul, then Rosh Hashanah, and then Yom Kippur, a developmental process of raising ourselves higher and higher above the physical world and deeper and deeper into the spiritual world.
The subtitle Forty Heroes is not entirely accurate – there are 41 stories in the Hebrew and 43 in the English version, beautifully translated by Sara Daniel – but the word heroes is incredibly apt.
The mitzvah of sukkah is most unique. It is the only mitzvah one performs with his entire body (with the exception of living in Eretz Yisrael).
The sukkah is a reminder of Hashem’s constant care in our everyday lives. Commemorating a concept rather than a specific event reflects a more complex reality.
By Maayan Zik
I follow Chabad traditions and usually a gartel of that caliber is worn by married men. It turns out that bar mitzvahed boys in Chabad also wear a gartel, but it’s thinner and hidden under the shirt. It is the difference between a single man and a married man.
We could hand-wring over this, as some do, seeing it as a turning away from a more rigorous Judaism to one that is more accepting.
The gartel is serious business, but also a reminder that even in the most disciplined practices, there’s room for personality, preference, and humor.
A common custom is to wear a gartel either in accordance with the last approach or because it signifies the differentiation between what is higher and lower about people.
The struggle for every Jew is finding a way to strike a balance between physicality and spirituality. Most of us are not in an environment that is fully focused on ruchnius.
To the extent that the so-called “moderate” Palestinian Authority can be trusted – not an easy notion to accept – it is the implacable Hamas enemy that will soon resume being in charge of compliance, whatever it is that will be required of the Palestinians and there is no doubt about their untrustworthiness.
In a world fractured by fear, antisemitism, and isolation, Sukkos reminds us that holiness is not a status, it’s a practice.
Some will argue that silence is cowardice, that in critical times rabbis must declare who to vote for. That is nonsense.
This is not a war of maneuver. It is a slow, grinding, street-by-street campaign against an enemy embedded in every alley, hiding behind civilians, and fighting from below.
Mamdani’s primary win has alarmed many in part because it was also unexpected, with nearly every major poll predicting a Cuomo victory in the weeks leading up to the primary.
If it can be done comfortably, safely, and in accordance with halacha, it’s a beautiful and meaningful mitzvah. But we must do so without judgment. Not sleeping in the sukkah doesn’t imply laxity or lack of observance – sometimes, it’s a reflection of deeper spiritual sensitivity or halachic adherence.
His anti-Israel outrages including sympathy for Hamas are in a special category and a special concern for our community. It’s time we all wake up to what would be coming with a Mamdani victory.
The Rema, however, is unconvinced by weather-based excuses (Darkei Moshe, O.C. 639:3). He maintains that it is generally not sufficiently cold even in Europe to constitute a blanket exemption (pun intended) from sleeping in the sukkah.
By Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z"l
We are a hyper-verbal people. We talk, we argue, we pontificate, we deliver witty repartee and clever put-downs. Jews may not always be great listeners but we are among the world’s great talkers. Accuse us of anything and we’ll come up with a dozen reasons why we’re right and you are wrong.
Within all of us is this tension. A part of us might find the rituals confining, excessive, and boring. Why must we drudge through organized prayers and rituals? Why can’t we just connect to G-d and be a Jew at heart? The feeling is most legitimate.
If there was a dispute, though, you should try to resolve it, concluded Rabbi Dayan. Appeasement and restoring peace between people are a great merit on Yom Kippur.
In our community, with its many large families, very often a rebbe or a teacher will be privileged to teach several siblings of one family. If big brother is a super-achiever, most likely his younger brothers have heard the refrain Why can’t you be more like your brother? Parents must avoid the impulse to do the same thing.
June 19, 2026 
