A few days ago, I was invited to a local gathering in memory of David (Moshe Yosef) Reichenberg, who gave his life trying to rescue a child from electrocution during the Hurricane. Rabbi Naftoli Reich of Ohr Somayach shared a thought that has a lot of relevance to the...

On the night of Rosh Hashana, many Jewish families have a custom to eat the head of a fish (gummy candy fish in my house) and say a short prayer playing upon the symbolism of the head. We pray that it be G-d's will that in the coming year "we should be at the 'head'...

In this week's reading, G-d Commands us to bring our first fruits to the Temple, and recite a passage found in the Passover Haggadah: "An Aramite [attempted to] destroy my father, and he went down to Egypt... And the Egyptians oppressed us... and we cried out to...

Sometimes we feel like the challenges of life are insurmountable. When the going gets tough, even the tough want to give up. The Torah portion this week opens with a surprising dispensation for the soldier in the midst of war. "...you see among the prisoners a...

For most of us in the path of Hurricane Irene, the storm turned out to be a significant inconvenience, rather than a disaster. Not having power at home for four days was annoying, but hardly a tragedy. The same cannot be said for one family from Monsey. Moshe Yosef...

One could read through the Torah and believe that it's merely a record of events, or a book of stories. While the text is certainly in story form, its teachings continue to have eternal relevance. The Torah's story is relevant not merely as history, but as a guidebook...