Caesar's daughter couldn't understand how the great Rebbe Yehoshua ben Chanania was so scholarly yet so unsightly. He answered with an interesting comparison, as told here (based on the Gemara, Tractate Nedarim… [Read more...]

Here's the Book of Ruth in the context of today's war in Gaza. We'll see that The "Dark Side" does everything in its power to prevent the coming of Moshiach. The Book of Ruth shows the extent that Hashem outmaneuvers the forces of evil. Moshiach will come suddenly, in the most surprising of… [Read more...]

Education is not preaching – it's personal example. A child's innate sense of justice cannot stand hypocrisy and inconsistency. A parent who preaches one thing yet practices otherwise is guaranteed to obtain the opposite results. In simple English, if you live it, you can give… [Read more...]

It's a pleasure to answer the request of a charming person, especially when his or her requests are full of charm. Where does one attain that… [Read more...]

Who do you blame when you missed your train? Don't bother looking for the seemingly guilty factor or person. This week's Torah portion shows how the apparent setbacks in our life are all for the… [Read more...]

Sometimes killing is justified, as in self-defense. But, when a person becomes accustomed to killing, he or she is likely to kill when it's not at all justified. Our forefather Jacob didn't want anything to do with anger and violence. His two sons Simon and Levi think… [Read more...]

Esau and Jacob meet after years of estrangement. In this dramatic confrontation, the first thing Esau does is to stare at Jacob's wives. We learn here the huge difference between Esau's and Jacob's attitude toward women. The same difference continues today in the opposing attitudes of modern… [Read more...]

Sure, Jewish history in the Ukraine is bittersweet. On the bitter side, there are the murderers Khmelnitsky and Gonta. On the sweet side, there are the Baal Shem Tov, Rebbe Nachman and our grandparents. That sweetness permeates the pages of "Chassidic… [Read more...]

We are now in the birth pangs of Redemption, or Geula. Today's events are simply pieces of the Geula puzzle. Meanwhile, everything is unfolding just as the Torah, Midrash, Zohar and Gemara told us they would. This is the Megilla of today, the story of Hashem setting the stage for… [Read more...]

Is a human any better than an animal? Animals eat, drink, and procreate. Many do productive tasks on farms and ranches. They also are a source of recreational enjoyment to their owners. So how is a human superior? Look at the… [Read more...]

There's one road whose beginning is rocky and its end is smooth. There's a second road whose beginning is smooth and the end is rocky. This fact of life that applies both to material and spiritual endeavors, as we learn in an old Chassidic… [Read more...]

Is there a contradiction between Divine Direction and free will? If Hashem directs everything, like we learn in the first principle of emuna, where's free choice? We find our answer in a most unlikely place. The frogs come to enlighten… [Read more...]