This Shabbat is known for its haftara, which always precedes Tisha B’Av: Chazon Yeshayahu – the vision of Yeshayahu. This is a difficult affair, traditionally read in the melody of Eicha, but it ...

I was taught to make a Kiddush Hashem no matter where I stand; in a parking lot among our own, or as the only Jew in town. Space doesn’t define sanctity. Behavior does. Especially when no one’s wa ...

The daf yomi to be cited below doesn’t address this even indirectly, but provides a solution very directly. In a world saturated with the stench of antisemitism, with the allegation of genocide by ...

There is a calendar match-up between the seven days of Pesach and most of the rest of the calendar, using At-Bash – an alphabetical scheme which matches alef with tav, bet with shin, gimel with reish, ...

One might wonder how a person like Nevuzardan could be absolved for his many heinous crimes. The answer is that Hashem forgives anyone who is sincere in his repentance.

As Steve Jobs said in his Stanford commencement speech, You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.

The Churban“All the Roman commanders who saw the internal conflict among the Jews viewed it as a gift from heaven and urged an immediate attack. But Vespasian wisely counseled pa ...

A rebbi in a yeshiva wrote the following letter: A talmid of mine would continuously speak to me negatively of his father. He complained that his father didn’t care about him and thought very little ...

Laura taking photographs in New Jersey for the Jewish Life Photo Bank, which has since been named in her memory. Laura Ben-David left us on July 17, at only 56 years old, after a battle with ovarian ...

You see your date’s internal beauty and you are not bothered by a lack of the typical commercial good looks we are taught to value. But you worry that you will be influenced by the subtle judgment y ...

How contemporary the Gemara rings when it says the destruction of Yerushalayim puzzled and perplexed the sages, prophets, and angels! It shouldn’t cause us any wonder that we are unable to explain t ...

The influential Columbia University professor and Palestinian political activist, Edward Said, characterized Israel’s founding as a manifestation of Western imperialism.