"The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honour."(Esther 8:16)Adar 14, 5769/March 10, 2009 Purim More precious than gold: Simchah - joy - happiness! The sublime pleasure of being alive, the transporting loftiness of recognizing G-d's presence in the world, the inescapable satisfaction of perfor...

“They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking (y’mei mishteh v’simha) and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor.” -Esther 9:22 Other than reading and/or hearing the Megillah, every mitzvah of Purim is mentioned in this one v...

As I will be celebrating Shushan Purim this year, I thought I should re-post this incredible Dvar Torah. Rav Kook had a sefer in which he would put a statement for each month of the year which would represent the meaning of the month. For the month of Adar, Rav Kook wrote: “המזכירי×� ×›...

Yes, we are our brother's keeper economically and in all ways. Indeed, we are taught by the rabbis that you have to continue to help your brother even if he needs your help time and time and time again -- even if he is a continual loser. Our duty is to do what ever we can to save him from destitutio...

"And they will build Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst."(Exodus 25:8)Adar 3, 5769/February 27, 2009 Fourteen words in all, (in Hebrew only five), this singular commandment which appears in this week's Torah reading of Terumah, (Exodus 25:1-27:19), is short, succinct and so direct that e...

Hume's targets are those who argue rationally for the existence of God or the reality of miracles There has been an overwhelming number of comments on the first three parts of the Hume on Religion series, and I apologise for not keeping up on the comment threads themselves. Several specific, good co...

On Monday, by coincidence or by Providence, I attended the funeral of Moses I. Feuerstein ז"ל. By coincidence, I had planned to travel to Boston for a few days and received word of his passing just before I left New York. By dint of Providence, I was afforded an opportunity to pay my respects to a...

1. Freedom of speech in Israel just took another bullet. The Leftist First Amendment, under which anti-Israel leftists and Arabs are entitled to the protection of freedom of speech for everything they say but know one else is, made a comeback this week. The Israeli dual court system also struck back...

I apologize to my readers for my delay in completing the series on Shikechah and Zechirah. The reason for my delay is that I've been involved in writing a series of other essays, posts, and articles in response to questions from other people. It just occurred to me, "Hey! Why don't I post those in t...

From Lieberman to Lieberman, there is no Lieberman like Lieberman (Ariel Jerozolimski) There is an old Jewish saying comparing the Biblical Moses and Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides): From Moses to Moses there was none like Moses. In what is perhaps the ultimate example of bathos (from the sublim...