This week’s parasha, Shelach, concludes with the well-known third paragraph of Kriat Shema whose focus is the mitzvah of Tzitzit. Its inclusion in the Shema during Tefilat Shacharit is … more

For the past several months, we have all been struggling with the terrible COVID-19 pandemic. We have heard our share of sad and tragic stories, and many have had to cope with very frightening … more

We were in the midst of basic tank training, enjoying a brief respite from the grueling pace of maneuvers and marches. Uri Faraj was not actually in the armored corps, he was in the armaments … more

It was a lesson I learned long ago, when I was a high school teacher. I was new at this line of work and found that my greatest challenge was to find ways to motivate the students. I tried … more

I have long been intrigued by one passage in this week’s parsha, Beha’altecha. After a lengthy stay in the Sinai desert, the people are about to begin the second part of their … more

Remember what the L-rd, your G-d, did to Miriam on the way, when you went out of Egypt” (Devarim 24:9) is one of the Six Remembrances that many people recite at the end of Tefilat … more

T he festival of Shavuot is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Here is how Shavuot is described and defined in parshat Emor: “From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of … more

All beginning students of Torah face this obstacle: In their original, the primary texts of our Jewish tradition have no punctuation. There are neither commas nor periods in the Torah scroll. … more

HaRav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik zatzal was one of the 19th century’s greatest European Torah scholars. He is known as the Beit HaLevi after the title of his grand exposition of the … more

Three thousand years ago, King Solomon wrote in the book of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that there is a time and a season for everything under the sun. “A time to sing, and a time to dance, a … more