Avraham's Little-Kown Role in Helping His Son Do Teshuvah: You may already know that Yishmael did teshuvah during the lifetime of his father and that he lived out the rest of his days as a righteous man. But do you know the circumstances that led to his decision to turn his life around and return...
How One Decision can Become a Turning Point in Life: After Avram returned from Mitzraim, we read the following about Lot (Bereshit 13:5): וְגַם־לְלוֹט הַהֹלֵךְ אֶת־אַבְרָם הָיָה צֹאן־וּבָקָר וְאֹהָלִים (And also Lot, who went with Avram, had a flock, cattle and tents). Since we already know from 13:1 that Lot was traveling with Avram, it...
The Shulchan Aruch states (Orach Chaim 1:5): טוב לומר פ' העקדה (It is good to read the passage of the Binding of Yitzchak, i.e. the Akeidah [each morning]). The Mishnah Berurah explains (O.C. 1:13) that it is not sufficient just to read it; rather, one must think about it deeply and recognize the wonders of...
Something came up in my life recently that caused me to ask the following: Have I ever done anything in my life that was done for someone else without any ulterior motives on my part, without even a trace of self-interest? After searching and searching, I found nothing. I couldn’t recall a single instance when...