Login  

Register  

 

A Time of Confusion and Clarity

V’ha’ir Shushan Navocha The Jews of Shushan were confused. They considered Shushan and the Persian Empire their home and viewed themselves as central to...

   
 

Parshas Pekudei - Priorities

The pasuk (40:22) recounts the placing of the shulchan in the north before the placing of the menorah in the south. However, point...

   
 

Parshas Pekudei - Earth Sandwich: The Nerdiest Sandwich Ever

Have you ever heard of an antipode? When I first heard that word (this past week) I thought it was referring to the phylum of invertebrate animals, such as inse...

   
 

Parshas Pekudei - Journeys

We conclude the Book of Shemos this Shabbos. It began describing the arrival of the Children of Israel to Egypt, going on to chronicle the story of our people. ...

   
 

Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Chasing the Clouds (Pikudei)

“He set up the courtyard all around the Mishkan and the altar, and he put up the screen at the entrance to the courtyard; and Moses completed the work.”&nbs...

   
 

Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Pekudei 5784/2024

Baltimore, MD – Mar. 2024 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...

   
 

Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / To Start And To Finish

“Shalom Sivan, I am Reut Tzukerman. This is an era in which we begin to do things with great enthusiasm, but do not always finish what we started. This week&n...

   
 

Beyond The Headlines A Weekly Glimpse Into The Israel You Won’t Read About In The News (Week of Parashat Pikudei) Photos

What’s Really Happening in Metulah? Metulah, Israel’s northernmost city, which abuts the border with Lebanon, was desolate last Thursday morning, due to ba...

   
 

Fully Focused On What Matters

True Pleasure Last week, we saw that Rebbe Yaakov describes our world as the “corridor” that leads to the “palace” of the next world, where we experien...

   
 

Parshas Vayakheil - The Difference is Staggering

In the beginning of parshas Vayakheil Moshe begins to instruct the nation on how they are to proceed with the building of the mishkan. At th...

   
 

Parshas Vayakhel - DEAD END vs. NO OUTLET

I used to wonder if those yellow and black “No Outlet” signs on the side of the road meant that you are entering an Amish neighborhood. But now, I realize h...

   
 

Parshas Vayakheil: Stay The Course

In an ancient Midrash, Mishnas Rebbi Eliezer, the teachings of the great Tanna, Rebbi Eliezer the son of Rebbi Yosi HaGalili, it quotes Rebbi Yosheyah who taugh...

   
 

Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Dig Deep (Vayakhel)

No detail is left out, nothing is left to the imagination, the intricacies of the Mishkan are explicitly detailed. But why? Why spend so much time des...

   
 

Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Vayakheil 5784/2024

Baltimore, MD – Mar. 2024 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...

   
 

Lights On or Off

The laws of Shabbos are reviewed in Parshas Vayakhel; especially the laws of making a fire. An interesting question arises regarding the followin...

   
 

Beyond The Headlines A Weekly Glimpse Into The Israel You Won’t Read About In The News (Week of Parashat Vayakheil) Photos

A Lesson Learned from US Students I’d like to share a few insights following a lecture that I delivered to a contingent of university students that came to I...

   
 

Parshas Ki Sisa - Too Much Gold?

When Moshe returns to HaShem to begin his defence of B'nei Yisrael, he opens by stating (32:31) "The nation has sinned a great sin; they have made for them...

   
 

Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Ki Sisa 5784/2024

Baltimore, MD – Mar. 2024 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...

   
 

Watch: Let's Talk Kashrus - Hydroponic Quest: To Eradicate The Pests with Baltimore's Rabbi Sholom Tendler (Video)

Baltimore, MD - Mar. 1, 2024  - Hydroponics. Aeroponics. Vertical farming. These are just a few of the terms of recent innovations in the world of agricult...

   
 

Parshas Ki Sisa - Second Chance Employment

Research has shown that after thousands of years, bread remains the most regularly consumed food in the world. Due to its convenience, portability, nutrition an...

   
 

Parshas Ki Sisa - Extending Ourselves

After the Sin of the Golden Calf, G-d expresses His intention to eradicate the entire Jewish nation, preserving only Moshe through whom a new nation would arise...

   
 

Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: The Basis of Beginnings (Ki Tisa)

G-D spoke to Moshe, saying: “Make a copper wash basin and its copper base for washing; and place it between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar, and put water i...

   
 

Breaking Tablets

In Shmos 34:1 Hashem tells Moshe to cut out two new tablets similar to the first ones and, “I will write on these tablets “asher s...

   
 

How to Pray on Purim

There is a well-known summary of the way we should behave in giving tzedakah on Purim in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Megillah 1:4): אֵין מְדַקְדְּקִ�...

   
 

Watch Rabbi Yonah Sklare on Parshas Parshas Ki Sisa: Finding New, Contemporary Meaning in a Torah of Old (Video)

Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...

   
 

Parshas Tetzaveh - Tightening Our Belts

Of all the garments discussed this week in the context of the 'glorious and splendorous' vestments the Kohanim were to wear in their service of G-d, t...

   
 

Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: One Small Spark (Titzaveh)

V’Ata Titzaveh es Bnai Yisroel, V’Yikchu Elecha Shemen Zayis Zach Kasis La’Maor L’Haalos Ner Tamid   You shall command the Children of I...

   
 

Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Tetzaveh 5784/2024

Baltimore, MD – Feb. 2024 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...

   
 

Purim Cuttin?

The Gemara in Megillah 6b says that it is forbidden to eulogize and fast on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first Adar. The R...

   
 

Parshas Tetzaveh - The Kohein Gadol and Us

The parshiyos we are reading now and in the coming few weeks are sometimes difficult to relate to.  What does the clothing of the kohein gadol in this pars...

   
 

Parshas Tetzaveh - Our “New” Color

Clothing is an important form of self-expression. The clothes we wear reflect our personal tastes, preferences, and identity. Likewise, clothing often manifest ...

   
 

Why We Do

Important Intent The past two pieces presented Avot’s definition of the world’s goal as glorifying Hashem. This goal should impact not only what we do, but...

   
 

Parhsas Terumah - Gold is Gold

A number of years ago, I posed the following question and received back a number of nice suggestions which I would like to share. At the beginning of the ...

   
 

Parshas Terumah - Let's Face It!

Early sources contemplate the correlation between the word for bread — לחם, and the word for war — מלחמה, which seemingly share the same root. In i...

   
 

Parshas Terumah - Internal Stargazing

According to the Digital Commons at Illinois Wesleyan University, a laboratory-based experimental study was conducted to explore the effects of stargazing ...

   
 

Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Create the Light (Terumah)

It was an incredible structure filled with utensils meant to convey meaning and serve as the vehicle for our service of God. The Mishkan and its ...

   
 

Watch Rabbi Shlomo Horwitz: Jerusalem Impressions - The Paratroopers Return to the Kotel: Emotional Swearing-In Ceremony for the First Time Since the Beginning of the War (Video)

Jerusalem, Israel - Feb. 15, 2024  -  After a long hiatus because of the Iron Swords War, yesterday marked the first swearing-in ceremony for soldiers...

   
 

Parshas Terumah - When "Giving is Getting"

Parshas Terumah begins with Hashem commanding Moshe Rabbeinu to collect “Terumah” from Bnei Yisroel in order to build the Mishkan and all of its adornments....

   
 

Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Terumah 5784/2024

Baltimore, MD – Feb. 2024 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...

   
 

Flying High

HaGaon Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l (Halichos Shlomo, ch. 23) considers flying on an airplane a sakana (dangerous situation), and therefore one must always...

   
 

Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / “And Your Children Will Return To Their Borders”

In Israel, people walking in the street today will be smiling to themselves and no one will ask why.We woke up this morning, for a change, to this news: Two hos...

   
 

Watch Rabbi Yonah Sklare on Parshas Terumah: The Mishkan as a Human Body (Video)

Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...

   
 

For Heaven’s Sake: The Jewish People

As we saw in the last piece, Pirkei Avot explains that the world was created for the glory of G-d. Though the whole universe proclaims this notion, man is uniqu...

   
 

Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Salvational Servitude (Mishpatim)

And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them. Should you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall work [for] six years, and in the seventh [year], he shall g...

   
 

Parshas Mishpatim - Living in Limbo

Of all the various laws enumerated in our portion, there is one that stands out, not only because it is the sole one that has a very specific consequence, but f...

   
 

Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / Bullet Holes In The Wall And Letters Floating In The Air

Ever since October 7th, the police station in Sderot has been identified solely with the horrible tragedy that occurred there.  But now a powerful work of ...

   
 

Parshas Mishpatim - The Most Stolen Book

According to Guinness World Records, the Bible – which is printed at a rate of about 80 million copies per year – is the best-selling book of all time. It i...

   
 

Watch Address at Bais Yaakov: Tzvika Mor, Father of Hostage Eitan Avraham Mor, and Cousin of the Flamm Family of Baltimore Speaks Out (Video)

Baltimore, MD - Feb. 8, 2024 -Watch as Tzvika Mor, Father of Hostage Eitan Avraham Mor and Cousin of the Flamm Family of Baltimore, Speaks at Bais Yaakov This ...

   
 

Watch Rabbi Yonah Sklare on Parshas Mishpatim; A Judaism Which Leaves You Feeling Lowly CANNOT be the Real Thing (Video)

Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...

   
 

Parshas Yisro - Men of Valour

In this week's parsha, Yisro advises Moshe that he could not possibly handle the entire nation's legal issues on his own. Rather, he sh...

   
 

Parshas Yisro: Emotional Ambivalence

Do you have mixed feelings and experience a range of emotions just by hearing the term emotional ambivalence? If so, that is completely normal. In fact, that is...

   
 

Parshas Yisro - The Measure of a Man

The principals taught by R' Yishmael in the breisa at the beginning of sifra include thirteen methods of learning specific halachos from the context of a s...

   
 

What Is "In Our Hands": When We Determine the Results

What Is "In Our Hands": When We Determine the Results אמר רבי חנינא הכל בידי שמים חוץ מצנים פחים שנאמר צנים �...

   
 

Watch Rabbi Yonah Sklare on Parshas Yisro: Do You Feel that Your Life is Unglamorous (Video)

Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...