B'haalotcha 5778

"ותדבר מרים ואהרן במשה על אדות..." – מפרשה זו אנו למדים שאסורו הוא אפילו אם האיש שדיבר עליו לשון הרע הוא איש ענו ושפל רוח, ואינו מקפיד על מה שדיבר עליו, שלכך נסמך הפסוק והאיש משה ענו מאד

(שמירת הלשון ח"ב, על פרשת בהעלותך)

The Permission Slip

Yossi and David have been friends for as long as anyone can remember. They’ve spent hours reading the same books together, playing the same games together, and engaging in their favorite activity: telling jokes.

Naso 5778

“The Kohen shall write these curses on a scroll and erase it into the bitter waters”

(Bamidbar 5:23)

"The name of G-d, which is written in holiness, is erased on the water in order to make peace between a man and his wife"

(Chullin kama 1)

"Because the water checks the sotah, and if she is found innocent, it causes peace between them"

(Rashi on Sukkah 53)

Guest Work

One evening, Chaim was on his way home, when a man he didn’t know came running up to him. “Reb Yid, do you think you could do me a favor?” the man began. “Upstairs, in my apartment, there is an engagement party taking place. If you walked past the door of my apartment, you wouldn’t believe it though.

Shavuot 5778

כתוב בשולחן ערוך האר"י ז"ל:

"דע שכל מי שבליל שבועות לא ישן כלל ועקר והיה עוסק בתורה, מבטח לו שישלים שנתו ולא יארע לו שום נזק" 

(משנה ברורה סי' תצ"ד, ס"ק א)

Going the Extra Mile…

Yaakov stepped onto the bus, elated but exhausted. He sank into his seat, and thought back to the wonderful chag of Shavuot that had just ended. He had stayed up the whole night before, learning Torah with his friends. He smiled at the thought of the animated discussions and the feelings of excitement that had permeated the beit midrash. Now that Shavuot was over, he was heading back to his parents’ house in Netanya. He leaned his head back against the seat, and closed his eyes, letting the happy memories replay themselves in his mind.

b'chukotai 5778

"אם בחקתי תלכו"

רש"י: "שתהיו עמלים בתורה"

A Visit to a Dying Parent

An interesting question was asked of Rav Asher Weiss Shlita:

A few years ago, Dovid made aliyah, got married and began to study in a Jerusalem kollel.  He hurried to the kollel every morning to study with his chavruta (study partner). The two pored over the texts in the Talmud, engaging and analyzing till late at night. This went on

Behar 5778

"לא תונו איש את עמיתו" - באונאת דברים. 

הא כיצד? אם היה בעל תשובה אל יאמר לו: זכור מעשיך הראשונים; אם היה בן גרים אל יאמר לו: זכור מעשה אבותיך; אם היה גר ובא ללמוד תורה אל יאמר לו: פה שאכל נבילות וטריפות, שקצים ורמשים בא ללמוד תורה שנאמרה מפי הגבורה...

(בבא מציעא דף נח עמוד ב)

The “Goalie”

If you passed Meni on the street today you would see a religious looking man running to his evening kollel. Perhaps, you might see him wheeling his two small children to the nursery school. It’s not easy to imagine that this wasn’t always his life…