Torah

In our tefillah, we say, “Remove Satan (the yetzer hara) from before us and after us.” The Talmud says that “A person’s yetzer hara (evil inclination) renews itself each day and seeks to destroy one” (Kedushin 30a). The yetzer hara has only one goal: to crush and destroy a person. It will resort ...

The transformation that occurred at Yetzias Mitzrayim, from a slave mentality to the spirituality of “naaseh venishma” was miraculous. How did it occur? With the mitzvah of Sefira, taking it "one day at a time". Why then, was there so great a failure at the episode of the ;golden calf? Perhaps be...

The Torah says that Jacob was afraid of Esau, even though Hashem had promised him, "I will be with you and protect you." That promise was given when he had just left the home of Isaac and Rebecca, and was under their influence. Now, however, he had been with the wicked Laban for twenty years, and...

Sixty-five years ago, in high-school, I learned a powerful ;mussar lesson, but I did not realize it at the time. Ulysses was a hero and traveler in Greek mythology. He heard of the "music of the sirens." This was music that was heard at a particular harbor, and it was so enchanting, so attractiv...

We read in Genesis that after Adam sinned, he tried to hide in the Garden of Eden. Was Adam so foolish to think that he could hide from God? Certainly not! He was hiding from himself, because it was himself that he could no longer confront. God's question to him was very pertinent: "I am here. I ...

Now that it is Chanuka, there is a ;tikkun, that after lighting the Chanuka candles (or oil), one should look at the lights and meditate, ;"hanerot hallalu kodesh heim - these lights are holy." The sefarim say that they represent the original light of creation. Concentrating on the ;kedusha of th...

I learned much from working with an addicted population. I know how you celebrate an Independence Day. Parades, picnics, hot-dogs, patriotic speeches, and fireworks-that's it. Whoever heard of an Independence Day that lasts a week, and for which you must prepare weeks in advance, cleaning the hou...

Hashem instructs Moshe to tell the Children of Israel, "Kedoshim tihiyu, you shall be holy," but does not specify what one must do to be holy. Rashi says that this means one must abstain from immoral behavior. Ramban says that it means one should restrain oneself from indulging in permissible ple...

"Shovavim" - which stands for the first letters of the Parshios Shemos through Mishpatim - is a time of calling for Teshuva, as the Pasuk says ;"Shuvu Banim Shovavim - Return, wayward children!" ;This period covers the servitude of Mitzrayim and the subsequent redemption. Below, we bring a nice q...