Divrei Torah

These 4 parshiyos resemble our journey in recovery. First comes Shkalim, which means we have to weigh our actions, put them in balance - the inventory. After that comes Zachor: we find the bad that has to be eliminated and we do so just like with Amalek. After we got ri...

When we were approaching חודש שבט I heard from Reb Shlomo Meyer a vort that was tremendous chizuk for me all these years. שבט ר״ת שמרם ברכם טהרם. This month, which is entirely during the weeks of שובבים is here to remind us what our goal in life is. We ask Hashem, please...

Judaism views lust as follows: We acknowledge the fact that G‑d created us with such feelings, and it’s certainly not an aberration to feel lustful. However, outside of marriage, we are expected to be sufficiently aware of our higher calling, utilize our intellect, and mu...

Avraham Avinu is instructed by Hakadosh Baruch Hu to go up to the mountain and to bring Yitzchok as a Korban. R' Moishe Rosenstein gives a very beautiful and powerful insight as to why this was such a difficult test. He says, that when someone has a test and it's in fron...

The Gemara Sanhedrin (107a) says that Dovid Hamelech requested a Nisayon, and Hashem notified him that he would be tested in matters of immorality. The Gemara learns that David had relations with his wife at that point, as a way of ensuring that he could withstand the tem...

רבי אומר, הסתכל בשלושה דברים, ואין אתה בא לידי עבירה 1 דע מה למעלה ממך, 2 עין רואה, ואוזן שומעת, 3 וכל מעשיך בספר נכתבין. We see in this משנה, that רבי says that when we look at those three things, then we won't get to an עבירה. Before we go any further, we have...

BS”D Shalom u’Brachah, to our dear Jewish brothers and sisters in Brazil, This week, before I sent my son, Rabbi Yisochar Dov Taub, shlit”a, on a Chizzuk mission to your country, several of your community activists informed us that a recently enacted law effectively preve...

"Come I shall advise you what this people will do to your people" (Bamidbar 24:14). What advice is Bilaam referring to? Rashi explains that he's informing Balak that the G-d of Israel hates licentiousness, therefore if you want to succeed then cause them to stumble in thi...

Bilaam said: "He perceived no iniquity in Yaakov, and saw no perversity in Israel" (Bamidbar 23:21) - even if a Jew acts improperly, Hashem will not see any wrong - He will, so to speak, "look the other way", and therefore not see, because, as Bilaam explains, "Hashem his...

Parshas Shelach describes a Jew's inability of breaking out from victim - aka Egyptian (*1) Slave Mentality - into survivor - aka Freedom Mentality - when they accepted the report of the spies negatively. This sealed their fate in the desert. In contrast, the Haftara rela...