Tag: Beit HaMikdash
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When I was growing up, my family and my out-of-town cousins would always spend Pesach and the Seder at my grandparents’ home. It was tradition, but it was more than that. One house. One table. One shared world of jokes and songs that belonged to all of us. We looked forward to it all year.…
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Vayeshev opens like a world falling apart. A boy torn from his father. A pit. A sale. A shattered family. A righteous soul imprisoned. It looks like collapse. But the Midrash reveals the opposite: “Everything that happened to Yosef happened to Tzion.” Yosef’s descent isn’t random pain — it’s the pattern of every exile we’ve…
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Chazal tell us that as long as Sarah Imeinu lived, her tent was filled with open miracles. Bereishit Rabbah teaches that her Shabbat candles stayed lit from week to week, a cloud of the Shechina hovered above her tent, and her dough was blessed. It wasn’t just a home. It was a place where Hashem’s…
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Both Avraham and Sarah laughed when they heard the impossible: that a child would be born to them in their old age.But their laughs were not the same. Avraham laughed out of joy — out of awe at the greatness of Hashem and the beauty of a promise being fulfilled.Sarah laughed out of disbelief —…
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Lech Lecha wasn’t just a command to Avraham — it was a call that echoes through every Jewish soul.The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that “the command Lech Lecha remains an ongoing mission for all of Avraham’s descendants. Until the coming of Mashiach.” Chazal teach that the world was created in six days, corresponding to 6,000 years…
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Struggling to Feel Growing up, I always had a hard time connecting to the Three Weeks, the Nine Days, and especially Tisha B’Av. The mourning. The restrictions. The heaviness. I tried to feel something — but couldn’t. Part of it was that I didn’t fully understand what we were mourning. I mean, I grew up…
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Chazal in a Midrash debate about what the most fundamental pasuk in the Torah. The answer is surprising: “אֶת־הַכֶּבֶשׂ אֶחָד תַּעֲשֶׂה בַבֹּקֶר וְאֵת הַכֶּבֶשׂ הַשֵּׁנִי תַּעֲשֶׂה בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם”“One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and one in the afternoon.” The command to bring the daily Korban Tamid, morning and afternoon. Found in this week’s…
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Parshat Balak gives us a rare glimpse into the enemy’s war room. Balak, king of Moav, is terrified. Not because Bnei Yisrael attacked. They didn’t. But because he saw their strength. He felt their moral clarity. And that frightened him more than any army. So he hires Bilam, a world-class prophet with a twisted heart,…
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Hashem told Moshe to speak to the rock. Just speak. But after so many complaints, Moshe reaches a breaking point. He cries out, “Listen, you rebels!” and hits the rock. And then… everything changes. Hashem tells Moshe and Aharon, “Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me before the eyes of Bnei Yisrael,…
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A man walks into Macy’s and wins a 10-minute shopping spree. The doors open, the countdown starts… and he takes off running. But instead of heading for the jewelry or electronics, he wastes time and gets distracted picking things up along the way like grabbing socks, gum, and cheap T-shirts. By the time his 10…
