by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Aug 24, 2017 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, we are told “you shall be ‘simple’ with Hashem your G-d” [Deut. 18:13]. As you might suspect, “simple” is a very incomplete translation of “Tamim,” which also means pure and unsullied. Our...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jul 28, 2017 | Lifeline
The Ninth of Av, which this year begins on Monday evening, is a national day of mourning for the Jewish people. 3329 years ago, we mourned needlessly on this day, responding to the report of the spies that we would be unable to overcome the Canaanites and move into...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jul 14, 2017 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, Moshe begins the transfer of Jewish leadership to his closest disciple, Yehoshua (Joshua). He “stands him before Elazar the High Priest and the entire congregation” [27:22], in accordance with G-d’s Commandment that he...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jul 7, 2017 | Lifeline
Someone shared with me a fascinating story this morning (from the sefer “MiShulchan Gavohah”). The Brisker Rav, Rabbi Yitzchok Zev Halevi Soloveitchik, served as Rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva of Brisk (Brest, Belarus) prior to the Holocaust, under the hostile...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jun 30, 2017 | Lifeline
This week’s reading begins with the Commandment to prepare a red heifer for a special purification ritual. The calf was slaughtered and burned and its ashes mixed with water. Any person who came into contact with a dead person had to undergo a seven-day...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Jun 16, 2017 | Lifeline
When Moshe sent the spies into the Land of Israel, he did not anticipate two wildly disparate reports regarding what they would find. An argument breaks out between the spies upon their return: only two of them, Kalev and Yehoshua (Joshua), say that Israel should...
