There are certain things in life we take for granted, and chief amongst these are the relationships we have built over a lifetime. So one wonders exactly what Hashem (G-d) is saying at the beginning of this week’s portion: “And G-d spoke to Moshe and said to him ‘I am G-d’.” (Exodus 6:2) Why is G-d introducing Him/Her self to Moshe? more

Is there a point when a person can no longer change? On the one hand, Jewish law teaches that for some transgressions, such as murder, a person is put to death, suggesting that such a person … more

As we dress in costumes for this weekend’s celebration, it should be noted that one of the stories in the Megillah of Esther is very much about clothing. Mordechai, a hero of the story, had … more

I hadn’t planned on stopping to watch, but something about him caught my attention. Maybe it was his eyes, which was where his smile began; before it spread to the rest of his face; you could see it coming in the twinkle in his eyes. Or maybe it was the fact that, knowing his history as a Holocaust survivor, it seemed so powerful that on a day such as this, he could tell his story, with such a smile. more

For the better part of the 40 years we have been trying to come to terms with Palestinians, but somehow our dream seems no closer to reality than it did when Begin agreed to an autonomous Palestinian … more

Cold; so cold it cuts through the rags that were once clothes, straight to the bone.Cold; so cold it cuts through the rags that were once clothes, straight to the bone. There was a time this cold so occupied your very being you could concentrate on nothing else. But that was long ago. Darkness; so dark it sometimes seems more than the mere absence of light; it seems almost tangible. You vaguely recall a time when you were obsessed with determining exactly where you were, pacing in the darkness to examine your environs. You figured out you were in some sort of a concrete cell, perhaps six feet square, but not much more than that. You used to wonder what color the walls were, never having been allowed to see them, but that curiosity has long ago been replaced with more basic needs. more

It is nearly 20 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I lost about eight seconds of my life and almost died. I had been kept late with a group of students I was teaching, some of whom were struggling with some deep issues, and by the time I got in my car to head home it was nearly 4 am. I was an idiot; I should have stayed over in the dormitory with my students, but I guess I thought I was invincible. I had a cup of coffee with me and assumed that would be enough to get me home; I was wrong. more

A few weeks ago I joined about 35 students from Yeshivat Orayta for a week in Poland. We had a remarkable guide named Rav Yitzchak Rubenstein who shared the following story with us: The Nazis … more

It must have been an incredible moment; carefully brushing away the layers of dirt, the small team of volunteers responsible for this section of the dig had found something. After 2,000 years, … more

Thirty years have passed since Dani Moshitz, David (Didi) Cohen and Baruch Stern fell in Lebanon in 1985, and we came together with their families to let them know we had not forgotten. Dani and Didi … more