Earlier this week, we commemorated the breaching of the Old City walls of Jerusalem by the Roman Tenth Legion on the 17th day of Tamuz in 70 CE, heralding the beginning of the end of the Jewish … more

Years ago, about to exit the doors of LaGuardia Airport after a long flight, I suddenly realized I had forgotten my tefillin on the plane. I rushed back to the gates only to discover I could not get … more

How important is it for us to comprehend what we do? Where lies the balance between pure faith and our need to understand? This week’s parsha, Chukat, provides the ultimate example of … more

It is a conversation I will remember forever. We were in the midst of basic tank training, enjoying a brief respite from the grueling pace of maneuvers and marches. The tanks were encamped opposite a … more

They had only been in the army for eight months, and had only recently completed basic training, but on the books they were paratroopers. The youngest of the units sent into one of the toughest … more

It was our first masah , our first forced march. We were barely two weeks in the army and Itzik, a sadistic little first sergeant who had made it his mission to break us into soldiers, owned us for … more

One wonders whether the Mashiach and the redemption he is meant to bring still have not come because we are still waiting for him, or because he is still waiting for us. There is a story … more

Years ago, I had the opportunity to take a long-overdue vacation with my family in Walt Disney World. For our children, who had just spent the better part of a year dealing with the day-to-day … 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

In a cattle car in Poland, in the summer of 1942, Reb Azriel Dovid Fastag, a composer for the Modzitzer Rebbe, was headed to his death in Treblinka. Over a hundred Jews, forced to stand for days on … more