Anecdotes

At the beginning of World War II, the Brisker Rav was in Warsaw and bombs were falling all around. The people who were with him at that time were having an argument over whether it was safer to stay in the basement, protected from a direct hit, or if the basement was actu...

When you warm other people’s hearts, you remain warm yourself. When you seek to support, encourage and inspire others; then you discover support, encouragement and inspiration in your own life as well.  

The LUBAVITCHERS say the king lives forever.The VISHNITZERS have 2 kings. The GERERS wont let the king stand next to the queen.The YERUSHALMIS wont let the soldiers (pawns) into their area.Those from MEAH SHEARIM wont move out of their area.MODERNERS dont want black and w...

The only way to describe our great friend Jack* is that his accomplishments in the realm of Gilui Arayos were of a scale never before seen by humanity. With technology at his hand and his unprecedented use of media, he did for Arayos what Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Stalin d...

Have you heard of Rav Motta Frank? Not so many people know his name. The truth is he doesn’t allow people to call him Rav Motta Frank, at least not in his presence. He makes everyone call him Motta. Rav Motta Frank is a rav and mashpia in the Breslov community in Meah She...

I remember hearing a powerful story about Reb Moshe Leib M'Sosov who's yartzeit was this past week I think. It was on a Parshas Bo that Reb Moishe Leib was in Lizensk for shabbos as a guest of R' Elimelech. During the seuda he got up to say a vort on the parsha. The off...

As an El-Al plane landed on Chanukkah at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, the voice of the Captain came on: "To those who are still seated, we wish you a Merry X-mas, and hope that you enjoy your stay ... and to those of you standing in the aisles, we wish you a Happy Chanuk...

A couple of days ago, I was leering at women with lust. How I got stuck back there, isn't really the point. I was stuck! I didn't even really want to look that way- I was seeing them that way, in spite of not wanting to. It was painful - I knew it was not good, and I a...

This morning, as I was driving to work, cars zipping by me, a furry little squirrel streaked in front of my car. I gasped, but it was instantaneous. Looking in horror in my mirror, I saw its crushed body, saw it lift its head confusedly and fall limply back down. My heart...

I think somewhere in the holy books (maybe Rambam) it says that you know that you actually have done tshuvo is when the same situation arises, you withstand the temptation this time. I'm sure Machshova Tova can find the chapter and verse and the exact loshoin, in fact I w...

A rabbi was called to a hospital to see a Jewish teenager who was suicidal. He had attempted to take his own life, feeling that he was a good for nothing who could not get anything right. Even his suicide attempt had failed. The hospital staff, seeing he was Jewish, cal...

Look what comes out of not guarding one's eyes! The Gemara (in Sotah 47a) writes that while traveling with Rabbi Yehoshua ben Prachia, Jesus of Nazareth complained that the innkeeper's eyes weren't pretty. Rabbi Yehoshua pushed him away with both hands for his preoccupati...

From the Medrash Yalkut Shimoni, Vayechi THE FOLLOWING STORY HAPPENED TO RABBI MATYA BEN CHERESH WHO WOULD ALWAYS BE SITTING IN THE BET HA MIDRASH ENGAGED IN TORAH STUDY AND THE BRILLIANCE OF HIS FACE RESEMBLED THE SUN AND THE APPEARANCE OF HIS FACE RESEMBLED THAT OF THE ...

An interesting story / parable from the Talmud Tamid 32b As he (Alexander the Great) was traveling he sat by a spring and began to eat. He had with him some salted fish, and as they were being washed by the spring they gave off a pleasant fragrance; [alternate version: th...

A friend of mine told me a story that happened with him. He is a a Sefardic man, a Ba'al Teshuvah, who was sitting and learning Torah for many years in Kollel. He has a very strong Emunah and humility about him. About 12 years ago he found a hidden Tzadik in Tel Aviv who ...

I recently read an amazing story of an older couple from Russia. The wife called the Chevrah Kadisha and told them that her husband had died. They came and took the body and prepared him for burial. The next day, the Chevrah Kadisha came to the Beis Hakvaros and no one wa...

Today is a special day for FOUR reasons. Firstly, today is Yesod shebi'Yesod of the Seffirah. Everyone knows that Yesod represents the area of Shmiras Habris, so today is a very auspicious day for progress in these areas. Secondly, today is the Yartzeit of Rav Shlomkeh Z...

On our journeys through life, we are often subjected to tests that we could not withstand, and failures that seemed catastrophic and irreversible at the time. We wondered what G-d wanted from us, and why we had to undergo such trials and tribulations. But one day we will ...