Torah

"For tomorrow we will die!" (Isaiah 22:13) והנה אנכי הולך למות ולמה זה לי בכרה "And Esau said, Look I am going to die, so of what use to me is a birthright?" What was the mindset of Esau that he could have so easily sold his birthright for just a pot of lentils? After al...

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...

“Perhaps there is among you one whose Heart turns away from being with Hashem” פן יש בכם איש או אשה ...אשר לבבו פנה היום מעם יה-וה For some of us, this time of year reminds us of December 31st. You know that crazy night when everyone is at a party or at a bar counting do...

People cannot help when an improper impulse comes to mind, but they certainly can stop themselves from harboring the thought and allowing it to dominate their thinking. Yet, sometimes one may be responsible even for the impulse itself. While some impulses are completely s...

Are they the "Ten Commandments" or the "Ten Suggestions"? If you're like me - and most people, we don't like to be told what to do! The moment that someone orders me to do something, I not only refuse to do it, I try my best to do just the exact opposite. I think that G-...