Olive Seedlings - שתילי זיתים

The second chapter of Parshas Bamidbar  discusses the division of the Jewish population in the wilderness into four camps, each containing ...

The latter portion of parshas Acharei Mos  is a list of the various sexual prohibitions. Before it begins the list, the Torah provides an i...

The Sefas Emes , R' Yehuda Aryeh Leib of Gur, d.1905, taught in the name of his grandfather, the Chiddushei HaRim : כי עשר מכות נגד ...

What does it mean to be a Jew? When I describe myself as a Jew, what does that really mean? It is readily apparent that none of the no...

In Parshas Vayechi we read of Jacob’s blessings to his sons before his passing. After blessing the four eldest sons of Leah, Jacob then bl...

At the end of last week's parsha , after Joseph intepreted the dream of Pharaoh's wine steward and told him that he would be freed ...

In Parshas Vayeishev  we encounter the difficult story of Judah and Tamar. The verses ( Genesis  38:15-16) state: ויראה יהודה ויחשבה לזונ...

Parshas V’zos HaBracha , which is read on Simchas Torah , is the final Torah reading of the yearly cycle. As is clear in the first few vers...

When I started this blog, I was approached by a good friend, Rabbi Moshe Haikins, the founder and director of the Chevrah Lomdei Mi...

In Parshas Eikev , Moses recounts his dialogue with God in the aftermath of the sin of the golden calf and his efforts to intercede on the ...

Recently, one of my chavrusos  raised a question that seemed like a really difficult problem. Towards the end of Deuteronomy (31:2, 34:7) t...