On June 10, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered a commencement address at American University in Washington, D.C. that many historians believe helped seal his fate in Dealey Plaza on that infamous day of November 22 later that year. What did he say that was so unacceptable and inappropriate that it may have fueled the...
Part 3: The Lights of the Supernal Aleph (Likutei Moharan 6:5) This is the third article in our series focused on finding one’s zivug in today’s world. To recap, the first article explained that the root of the problem is related to the widespread difficulty that [young] men today have in being shomer brit. When...
Part 2: The Essence of Teshuvah (Likutei Moharan 6:2) In last week’s article, we examined the true reason behind the shidduch crisis in the orthodox Jewish world. With G-d’s help, we will now begin to lay out the path that a young man can take in order to cleanse his way, thereby meriting to marry...
Part 1: Defining the Problem (Tikkunei Zohar 14) The orthodox Jewish world is in the midst of a crisis, a crisis of not being able to find one’s marriage partner [shidduch]. Many young men and women are either not dating, or even if they are dating, they are having a difficult time finding that ‘perfect...
In the final words of Sefer Zecharyah, prophesying about a time in the future when the Holy Temple will be rebuilt in its place in the holy city of Yerushalayim, we read something most peculiar (Zecharyah 14:21): וְלֹא־יִהְיֶה כְנַעֲנִי עוֹד בְּבֵית־יְיָ צְבָקוֹת בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא (And in that day, there will no longer be a Canaanite...
In the 1980s, a team of neuroscientists at the University of California, San Francisco led by Benjamin Libet published numerous papers interpreted by many, including Libet himself, as demonstrating that our brains initiate conscious voluntary movements as well as the will to move before we are consciously aware of the will to move. As Libet...
As of the result of a leaked draft majority opinion of an ongoing U.S. Supreme Court case (Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization) suggesting that the high court may strike down the infamous Roe v. Wade decision which established a constitutional right to an abortion, the controversy of societal acceptance of abortion as birth control...
Every study that we have seen shows that levels of depression, sadness, despondency, anxiety and many types of mental health disorders have skyrocketed since the outbreak of Covid, reaching record levels across practically all demographic groups including the very young. As the verse says in describing the conditions of our world just prior to the...
We hear a lot these days about ‘speaking truth to power,’ i.e. a phrase connoting the necessity for people to stand up for what they believe is right or needed and to tell people who are perceived as being ‘in charge’ what’s what, whether the powers that be want to hear such truth or not....
Many civilizations and religions over the course of history have taught that the world, including man, is composed of four fundamental elements (sometimes called foundations or forces): fire, earth, air and water. Although perhaps not well known to everyone, these four foundations are also important in Jewish tradition (אש, עפר, רוח and מים). In recent...
Everyone speaks of it. Some people yearn for it; some people might even be willing to sacrifice their lives for it. But how many of us really know what it is? What are we speaking about? Freedom. Much has been written about it, but it still seems to elude us in many ways. Is it...
How do we know that anything we think we know is correct? Ask that question to one of your friends you will probably receive a very confused look. But, seriously, stop right now and think about it. How do we really know? Above all, keep in mind that the perceptions that we have of our...