A number of months ago, a friend of mine asked me why some people (such as 'yours truly') clap from time to time during davening, even during Shemoneh Esreh itself. At the time, I didn't give him much of an answer as I was caught off guard and didn't have sufficient knowledge at my fingertips....
As is known, ‘left’, ‘right’ and ‘middle’ aspects exist in the structure of the Supernal Lights, i.e. the sefirot in the world of Atzilut. The right side descends from chochmah ('wisdom') and is dominated by chesed (loving-kindness, giving), the left side descends from binah ('understanding') and is dominated by gevurah (severity, strictness, judgment, self-restraint), and...
In last week's article, The Danger of Breathing in Poisoned Air, we learned that the transgression that led to the Jewish men leaving their holy encampment and going to the Midianite market was because they were not breathing in the pure air that emanated from the mouth of Moshe Rabbeinu. In this week's essay, we...
Balak's and Bilaam's attempts to curse the Jewish People span three parashiot in Sefer Bemidbar: Balak, Pinchas, and Mattot. That fact alone should give us some idea of its monumental importance. Let's explore the story together. After Bilaam realized that Hashem wasn't going to give him an opening to curse the Jewish Nation directly, he...
We know the story. Balak hired Bilaam to curse Yisrael but was unsuccessful because Bilaam was permitted only to speak blessings upon Yisrael. Nevertheless, Bilaam devised a plan, which he knew that if it succeeded, destruction would come upon Yisrael from Hashem himself (see Sanhedrin 106a for details). The succinct summary is provided in Bemidbar...
How do we ensure that in spite of aging physically, we never really get old? R' Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk was one of the early leaders in the Chasidic movement. He was the primary talmid of R' Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch. And after the Maggid’s passing, R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder...
R' Yochanan said (Megillah 31a): כׇּל מָקוֹם שֶׁאַתָּה מוֹצֵא גְּבוּרָתוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אַתָּה מוֹצֵא עִנְוְותָנוּתוֹ (Every place where you find [mention of] the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He, you find [mention of] His humility). That may sound rather surprising. After all, we tend to think of the Master of creation...
It is a well known principle in the Torah that a Jew must imitate his Creator. The Rambam codifies this in Sefer ha-Mitzvot (Mitzvot Aseh 8): היא שצונו להדמות בו יתעלה כפי היכולת (It is that He commanded us to imitate Him, may He be exalted, according to our ability). It is also taught in...
R' Abahu said (Berachot 34b): מָקוֹם שֶׁבַּעֲלֵי תְשׁוּבָה עוֹמְדִין צַדִּיקִים גְּמוּרִים אֵינָם עוֹמְדִין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר שָׁלוֹם שָׁלוֹם לָרָחוֹק וְלַקָּרוֹב לָרָחוֹק בְּרֵישָׁא וַהֲדַר לַקָּרוֹב (In the place ba’alei teshuvah stand, complete tzaddikim cannot stand, as it says [Yeshayah 57:19], ‘Shalom, shalom to him who is far away and to him who is near’, ‘to him who is...
The time was early February 1981. The location was the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of the White House, not far from the Cabinet Room. President Ronald Reagan asked William Casey, the newly-appointed Director of the CIA, what he considered was his primary role as head of that agency. Barbara Honegger, assistant to the...
Pesach is just around the corner and all of our thoughts turn to redemption—the ten plagues of deliverance, the exodus from Mitzraim, the splitting of the sea, the annihilation of our oppressors and enemies, arrival at Har Sinai, the unity of the nation encamped at the foot of the mountain, etc. We were in a...
When writing about the importance of reciting the Shema morning and evening, we often focus on the first verse that declares the oneness of G‑d, i.e. Hashem echad. However, in this article we’re going to focus on a verse in the third paragraph (Bamidbar 15:39): וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְצִיצִת וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת־כׇּל־מִצְוֺת יְיָ וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם...