The penultimate pasuk of our parasha, Yitro, focuses on the law of constructing an altar made of stone: “And when you make for Me an altar of stones, you shall not build them of hewn stones, …
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By Rabbi David Etengoff
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2/15/17
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There is a story told by Rav Ephraim Oshry, one of the last rabbis of the Kovno Ghetto, in his monumental work of Holocaust responsum, Mima’amakim.
When the Nazis arrived in the small …
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By Rabbi Binny Freedman
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2/15/17
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After Moshe followed the instructions that made the waters of Marah drinkable, we are told, “There he taught them ‘chok u’mishpat’ and there he tested them.” The simple …
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By Rabbi Avi Billet
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2/8/17
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One of the many beautiful tefilot that we recite on Shabbat and Yom Tov is Nishmat Kol Chai.
I find the following passage to be particularly striking in its spiritual depth and …
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By Rabbi David Etengoff
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2/8/17
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I n 2001 over Rosh Hashanah, Israel was turned upside down. Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered Yasser Arafat a chance to end the Palestinian conflict in exchange for 97 percent of Judea and …
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By Rabbi Binny Freedman
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2/8/17
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When one reads the opening of Parshat Bo, it is hard to ignore the question of who has the bigger ego — Pharaoh or G-d?
Over the course of the previous seven plagues, Pharaoh has actually …
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By Rabbi Avi Billet
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2/1/17
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Did you know that the success of the Entebbe mission was born of a question?
In July 1976, an Air France airliner was hijacked and taken to the Entebbe airport in Uganda. After separating Israelis …
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By Rabbi Binny Freedman
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2/1/17
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Rosh Chodesh is one of the topics in this week’s Torah reading, parsha Bo: “The L-rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: ‘This month shall be to you (Hachodesh …
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By Rabbi David Etengoff
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2/1/17
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Ask a large enough group of Israelis who they think of when asked to think of a Jewish leader, and someone will come up with Menachem Begin. A leader of the Jewish underground Irgun in pre-state …
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By Rabbi Binny Freedman
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1/25/17
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The first aliyah of Vaera, this week’s parsha, Vaera, concludes with a superfluous statement, one that has already been: “G-d [then] spoke to [both] Moses and Aaron. He gave them …
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By Rabbi Avi Billet
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1/25/17
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