Tag: Jewish Inspiration
-
What I Found When I Opened a Letter I Wrote to Hashem Last Year On the first night of Chanuka this year, I opened a sealed envelope that had been sitting in my living room for a full year. I wrote it on the last night of Chanuka last year. I honestly didn’t remember what…
-
When we look at Yosef’s life in Parshat Vayeshev, he almost seems superhuman. Sold by his own brothers. Taken to a foreign country. Forced into slavery. Thrown into prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Anyone else would collapse under the weight of it all. Yet Yosef stays steady. The Torah doesn’t describe anger, despair,…
-
You can be doing everything right… and still feel completely empty inside. You can be doing everything right… and still feel completely empty inside.I know because I lived it. And recently in Yerushalayim, a young man came to my table with a question that hit me so deeply it brought everything back — the numbness,…
-
You ever have one of those days where your mind feels like it has 57 browser tabs open, everything running slow, random music playing from who-knows-where… and you’re just trying to remember what you forgot? Deadlines.Messages.Notifications.Things you meant to do.Things you forgot to do.Things you’re avoiding doing. That was me a little while ago.My brain…
-
In Parshat Vayelech, Hashem tells Moshe that after his death, Bnei Yisrael will turn to other gods, and as a result, He will “hide His face.” At first glance, it sounds like a punishment. But really, it’s a natural consequence. Hashem is everywhere. In every blade of grass, in every detail of the human body,…
-
The Gemara asks: Where is Esther hinted to in the Torah? Chazal point to this week’s parsha:“וְאָנֹכִי הַסְתֵּר אַסְתִּיר פָּנַי בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא” — “I will surely hide My face on that day.”The words haster astir allude to Esther, and to Hashem’s hiddenness in the Purim story. The Ramban explains: hester panim means Hashem withdraws His…
-
Climbing the Right Mountain We’ve all heard of rock bottom — when a person loses everything and only then realizes it’s time to change. But Parshat Shoftim warns of another danger that’s spoken about far less. When you spend so much time climbing the mountain of success — money, fame, luxury — only to reach…
-
We’ve wandered long enough. In this week’s parsha, Moshe begins his final address to Bnei Yisrael.But he’s not speaking to the generation that left Egypt. He’s speaking to their children—the ones who struggled in the desert, grew through challenges, and matured over forty long years. Now, they stand at the threshold of Eretz Yisrael.They’re finally…
-
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…
-
Parshat Matot opens with a curious halacha: vows. If a Jew says something like “I won’t eat bread today,” it becomes halachically binding. Words alone create new spiritual realities. No action, no ritual—just speech. That’s the power Hashem gave us. It mirrors the opening of the Torah itself: “Vayomer Elokim—Yehi or.” Hashem spoke—and light came…
