Libi BaMizrach

I don't have any original thoughts to share in this essay.  It is not a Torah thought, or a social commentary or a rant.  It is just a thought that may help others in the prayers we are all saying. I am quite sure that everyone is adding to their prayers since Simchas Torah, each in their own way.  I try to have some more concentration (Kavana) in the prayers for healing the sick, and releasing those in bondage, and silencing the slanderers, and in general in hearing our prayers.  In addition, I have been saying the daily Tehillim, such that one finishes the whole book once a month. A very small effort on my part, I should be doing much more, but (unlike my holy wife), that is where I am at. Reciting the whole book of Tehillim has made me reflect.  In the many public prayers I have seen, it seems that they always recite certain famous ones.  Psalms 20, 121,130, and 142 are always the ones on the menu, and they are all beautiful and inspiring. However, when ...

The Haftarah we read this past Shabbos, Parshas Miketz, is rarely read.  The last time was two years ago,  but not for twenty years before that. It will not be read again for another seventeen years. Nevertheless, it is one of the most well-known stories in Tanach. Two women came to Shlomo HaMelech to decide who the mother of the live baby was.  He famously decreed, "Bring a sword and split the baby in two!" causing the real mother to beg him to spare the life of the child.  The other said, "Well enough, neither you nor I will have a son".  Disregarding the well-known aside regarding the two potential mothers-in-law, this was held up as an example of Shlomo's great wisdom, which the whole nation marveled at. A dear friend commented that he did not understand how this was such a "Groiser Chochma". As he put it, many a difficult Tosfos he struggled with in high school seemed to contain far more wisdom! I answered him with an insight that I heard y...

I have read many Divrei Torah published over the last two months, in which – again and again – it was noted that the Parshiyot Hashavua stories in Bereishis were particularly and poignantly applicable to our current struggle against the accursed Hamas. Whether it was the destruction of the world in the Flood, Avraham and the Five Kings, the story of Yishmael, the struggle against Eisav, and so on. Now we've arrived at the last part of Sefer Bereishis, the thrilling drama of Yoseph and his brothers. Is some aspect of this story particularly important for us this year? One connection is the historical precedent, in which Yoseph needs to be a king before the ascendancy of Yehuda. This foretells what our Sages tell us about the End of Days, when Mashiach ben Yoseph will precede the arrival of Mashiach ben David. I am about to complete writing a book on the Thirteen Principles of Faith based on the Shiurim of my esteemed Rebbe, Rav Michel Twerski שליט"א. In that book, a chapter is...

We have arrived at Chanuka, believe it or not. The last two months have been other-worldly. It is hard to believe that the Yamim Noraim was two months ago – it feels like years to me almost another lifetime – prior to Simchas Torah. But arrived we have, and it is vital to take strength and lessons from Chanukah to help us gain from this incredible time we are going through.  We are used to viewing Chanukah in rather simple terms. "The Greeks persecuted us, we fought against them and won, went to reinaugurate the Temple, only to find that there was only one flask of pure oil left. We lit it, and it lasted for eight days. Now let us party, eat latkes, and spin dreidels." In more yeshivish circles, the focus is on Chanuka’s character as the Yom Tov of the Torah SheBa'al Peh (the Oral Torah), which was threatened and then renewed and is therefore a time to rededicate ourselves to learning Torah. However, that alone does not explain why the Rambam refers to the mitzvah of...