by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Sep 21, 2015 | Lifeline
This past January, the Jewish world lost a tremendous resource: Rabbi Dovid Winiarz zt”l, who was known online as the “Facebuker Rebbe.” For him, Jewish outreach was about one thing above all else: finding what he could do for you, and trying to do...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Sep 11, 2015 | Lifeline
Prior to Rosh Hashanah, we read the Torah portion of Nitzavim, “standing.” This comes from the first verse: “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God, your heads, your tribes, your elders and your guards, every person of...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Sep 4, 2015 | Lifeline
When we come to this week’s reading, I always remember the way my teacher Rabbi Asher Rubenstein zt”l spoke about the poor person bringing his first fruits to the Temple. The Torah obligates a person to be happy. It is part of the Commandment to bring the...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Aug 28, 2015 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, the Torah commands us to help each other, and to avoid pain even to animals: “You shall not see the donkey of your brother or his ox falling on the path, yet lift your eyes from them; you shall surely right it with him.” [22:...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Aug 14, 2015 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, the verse says “Lo Sisgodedu” — “do not cut yourselves,” which was a mourning practice of idolators. But the Medrash tells us that the words give us another messages as well: “do not divide, do not...
