Yomim Tovim

The Seder is not just a memorial to events of the distant past - it is a dynamic process of freedom from the challenges of the present. We are slaves. Slaves to our own addictions, habits, inhibitions, fears, cynicism and prejudices. These self-appointed pharaohs are laye...

Excerpts below taken from an article on www.jewishsexuality.com Our Sages tell us that we were redeemed from Egypt due to the merit of the two mitzvot (commandments) which G-d commanded us to perform on the eve of our departure - the Paschal sacrifice and the brit milah. ...

The Israelites had to rush out of Egypt so fast, they didn't have time for their bread to rise. Why? Does that make sense? What was the rush exactly? The Egyptians had just been blasted with ten plagues as divine punishment for holding the Israelites captive, they were mo...

Pesach cleaning is underway in all Jewish households around the world. As we toil to clean our houses from leaven, we are in parallel also cleansing ourselves from the evil inclination, which is symbolized by the leaven. We are toiling to break free of the evil one, in an...

If there is any time of the year to get help from Hashem to break free it is Purim, when all who ask are given. One case in point is our Feature Story where the writer writes as follows: One Purim, some eight years into our marriage, I got drunk. I was reading Psalms and ...

The word "Shavuos" is a double meaning, it translates both as "Weeks" and "Vows". Chaza"l say that on Shavuos there was a double vow; 1) the Jewish people vowed never to leave G-d, and 2) G-d vowed never to leave the Jewish people. We spoke last time about the power of vo...

Tonight is the holiday of Shavuos. "Shavuos" also means "Vows". Perhaps this is an indication that through "Vows", one can uphold the Torah that we receive on Shavuos. We read in this week's Parsha "ish ki yafli lindor neder La'hashem" - "a person who separates himself t...

A pre-Yom-Kippur Battle-Cry from "battleworn" on the forum. Dear Holy Brothers, Precious Yidden, great warriors, Yesterday we read in the Haftoroh, "Shuva Yisroel ad Hashem Elokecha Ki Chashalta Baovonecha". The Gemarah points out that "avon" refers to sinning intentional...

Dear Yidden, This morning on Erev Rosh Hashana, we stopped by the Kever of Shmuel Hanavi and I davened for all of us... I mentioned all the "spiritual" names on our forum that I could remember, Mevakesh, Chasdei Avos, Jack, Snax, Battleworn, Me, Elya, Niceguy (ben Nicedad...

Today is Hoshana Rabba, the last chance for Teshuvah before the final "Chasimah" of the new year. We need to have a clear cut plan if we want to succeed in doing true Teshuvah. We need to make sure that visiting forbidden sites and masturbation is simply "not an option" f...