Many years ago, at a melaveh malka in Har Nof in the Bostoner Beis Medrash, I heard a wonderful story from Rav Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, the Bostoner Rebbe. It seems that after Reb Yissachar, the … more

This week we celebrate Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of Elul, the month that leads up to Rosh Hashanah. In four weeks we will stand before G-d in judgment, and we will ask for a good year. One of the central prayers of the day makes abundantly clear the fact that on this day, at the beginning of the New Year, our fate is determined: “Who will live and who will die? Who in their time, and who in an untimely (young?) manner? Who (will die this year) by fire and who by water? … Like the shepherd whose flock pass beneath His staff, (G-d) passes His sheep (us) beneath his rod (club?)…” more

Sometimes it takes someone else to show you what you should have seen all along. I was driving home the other day when suddenly a car sped by on my left, trying to overtake me and the cars … more

The vision of what it would mean to command men was evaporating before my eyes. Two weeks after completing IDF Officer’s course, I had been looking forward to the challenges of mission … more

In the summer of 1935, even after two years, they still didn’t get it. Germany had begun to gear up for the 1936 Olympics and Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda, had made it his … more

T here is a darkness sometimes that rages within which can overpower our very being. I had a Battalion commander, who took the first watch on the tank after a brutal day in the Lebanon war. It … more

How does one make life meaningful? How do we make sure that we are living every moment to its fullest potential? This week’s portion, Shemot, contains a powerful indication to Judaism’s recipe for a meaningful and joyful life. more

There is a puzzling story in this week’s portion, Shemot, which occurs just as Moshe is ready to return to Egypt to set his people free. When Moshe stops at a small inn before the last leg of the journey home, G-d actually attempts to put him to death! After 39 verses (Exodus 3; 1-4: 19) where G-d convinces Moshe to leave Midyan and accept the mission of bringing the Jewish people out of Egypt, Moshe accepts and, taking his wife and children with him, sets forth on the journey south, back to Egypt. more

This has been a difficult week. Three of our sons, Yaakov, Gilad and Eyal have been missing since Thursday night and despite the best efforts of the Israeli army, the police, the intelligence community, and rescue units, we seem no nearer to learning their whereabouts. more

As we merited to walk our second child, our oldest son Yonatan, down the aisle to his chuppah, people stood and clapped and smiled and laughed, Yonatan’s smile light up his entire face, my wife … more