Divrei Torah

Shabbos 31b: "All the Torah in the world won't save a person unless he has Yiras Shomayim." Artscroll footnote at the end of the sugya defines Yiras Shomayim as negating YOUR will in order to fulfill Hashem's will. Yes, Torah and honesty in business are indispensable, BUT...

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 ...

Tears on His 50th Wedding Anniversary A man and woman were recently celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. While cutting the cake, the wife was moved after seeing her husband’s eyes fill with tears. The wife took his arm, and looked at him affectionately. “I never...

The Talmud teaches that one who has sinned but then asks for forgiveness comes closer to G-d than someone who never sinned. This means that a person who was wicked but left their evil ways reaches higher than a person who has always done the right thing. If so, the Talmud...

The Torah reiterates a number of times that it was "with a strong hand" that Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim. It took much suffering on the part of the Egyptians until they were willing to let us out, and Chazal also tell us that it took the "extra" suffering at the end ...

Dear Chevra HeKedoshim VeHaM'Taharim, I appreciate all of the positive feedback from our call on Thursday night and I am inspired by the yearning for kedusha that is out there. I feel that perhaps a few concluding comments would be helpful in summarizing our call and addr...

Torah taken to heart creates a spiritual light that shines within a person. Tzitzis has a similar effect, but on the body. Tzitzis creates a protective light around a person's body and even effects their thoughts. The Bracha on the Talis (the Arizal would make this Bracha...

The great Reb Yerucham used to say that here the honey is thick because here the purpose is most important- the analogy he would give is that of the mother who smears honey on bread so that her child will eat. The mother is more interested in the bread than the honey- she...

Between seeing everything that we shouldn't do and living in a environment that's contrary and antithetical to what Yiddishkeit is all about (and learning that we shouldn't do all of that), what are we left with to keep us strong? The Pasuk says, "Kedoshim Tih'u, Ki Kados...

I learned two halachos recently that relate to some beautiful things about recovery. The first one is: If chometz is sent to you in the mail on Pesach, you do not have to accept it. Basically, this is the same message that a friend of mine in the SLAA group says: "If som...