It’s that time of year again: getting rid of Amalek! But this year it takes on even more significance. What is Amalek?  People who hate Jews simply because we are Jewish. But it is more than that. Spiritually bgematria it equals the Hebrew word sofek, which means doubt. So Amalek is that little voice that […]

I always seem to collect things…..and I have a difficult time getting rid of things that I collect. My children are always telling me to clean out the house, to get rid of old clothes, old trinkets, old toys…throw them away, they tell me.  It is junk.  Nobody needs them.  But something within me cannot

Let us start the New Year as new people. The idea of the new year is to leave behind all the negative aspects of ourselves and the previous year and begin anew.  May we be helped from Above to shake off any connection to unhappiness, negativity, unholiness and anything that prevents us from serving the

Recently the supreme court in Israel ruled that non Jews who convert through reform or conservative also are to be considered Jewish.  This is exactly what the Lubavitcher Rebbe cried about over thirty years ago: the issue of “mihu Yehudi” , who is a Jew.  The Torah clearly says that only a non Jew who

Yesterday, Yud Aleph Cheshvan, was the yahrtzeit (hilloula) of Rachel Imenu. so let’s reflect for a moment upon the greatness of the Jewish mother. This is truly mother’s day! What is it that we associate with Rachel Imenu? her tears! The tears of a Jewish mother crying for her children. The concept of arousing mercy

This is a generation where we are very hung up on not depriving our kids of anything. The friend has a cell phone, our child must have one. The neighbors daughter is going on birthright, our daughter must go. G-d forbid she should feel left out or deprived. The cousin has the latest gadget, our

The Torah speaks about different sefirot (attributes) which were used to create the world.  There is the sefirah of chesed, kindness, gevurah, strictness , etc. Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh explains:  In the body our immune system corresponds to the sefirah of hod (acknowledgment/thankfulness). The immune system is the most susceptible to disorder and confusion, weakening its

It is appalling and shameful that New York passed a law allowing  abortion and not just at an early stage of pregnancy but right up to delivery time!  It is outright murder!!  It is disgusting, immoral and cruel. What has society come to? According to the Torah, abortion is murder. Of course if there is

The Baal Shem Tov once ascended to the Heavenly realms and entered the chamber of Moshiach. He asked when Moshiach would come and he was told “When your wellsprings (the teachings of Chassidut) are spread all over the world”. So it behooves all of us to hasten the coming of Moshiach by  learning and teaching

As we stood in shul listening to the Torah reading for Shavuos,  to hear the aseres hadibros,  I  pictured in my mind the tremendous drama that unfolded at Har Sinai and how  Hashem Himself spoke and we all heard him.  I found myself thinking “But why did  Hashem create this world? What does He gain