Would you trust a child with matches? When my daughter was two years old, our apartment building had an electrical fire that ultimately destroyed the two apartments above us. After we evacuated, my wife and I sat with our children on a nearby hill, along with most of...

The story of Pinchas is one of the most striking in the Torah, because of its apparent contradiction. Pinchas literally killed two people, one of whom was one of their leaders (Zimri, head of the tribe of Shimon). And how does G-d react? "Behold, I give him my...

In response to the ungrateful cries and complaints of the Jewish people, G-d sent a plague of poisonous snakes. Moses put the form of a copper snake on a pole and raised it up high, and as people would gaze at the snake they would be healed. The Mishna (Rosh Hashana...

I am always fascinated by the implied lessons of a statement from Chapters of the Fathers [5:17], that at first glance seems to make a faulty comparison: Which is an argument for the sake of Heaven? This is the argument of Hillel and Shammai. And not for the sake of...

Israel was in the heat of the War of Independence and Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz had just been blessed with the birth of a baby boy. Shells rained from the sky as the Rabbi and a family member who accompanied him made their way to attend the Bris Milah (circumcision)....

Passover has Matzah, the Seder, and wine. Sukkos has the Four Species and the Sukkah. But what does Shavuos have? It has the Torah! This is the day when God gave the Torah to the Jewish people. And because our holidays are not simply commemorations, but eternal links...