Tag: Jewish values
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In Parshat Balak (23:10), Bilam says something surprising: “תָּמֹת נַפְשִׁי מוֹת יְשָׁרִים, וִיהִי אַחֲרִיתִי כָּמוֹהוּ”“Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like theirs.” It sounds noble. Who wouldn’t want the peaceful, eternal reward of the righteous? But Chazal expose the contradiction behind his words. Midrash Rabbah says: Bilam said:…
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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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Remembering What It Felt Like “You shall love the convert, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”— Devarim 10:19 This commandment appears again and again in the Torah. But why? Why is it so important that we’re reminded not just to be kind to the ger, but to love them? Because we know…
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Let me ask you a question: If your friend was exhausted, overwhelmed, and on the verge of breaking… what would you say? “Take care of yourself. You need rest. You’re doing so much. Be kind to yourself.” But when it’s you feeling that way? You push harder. You criticize yourself. You say, “I can’t stop…
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I always went to the Pesach seder at my Bobie and Zaidy’s house.Same table.Same songs.Same Divrei Torah.Same jokes. (bih bih bih…) After my Zaidy was niftar, we continued at my parents’ home. Even when I got married and had kids, we went back. Pesach was never up for discussion. It meant something — that night…
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Imagine a child giving their parent a drawing. The paper is crumpled, the lines are messy, and the colors don’t stay inside the lines. Objectively, it’s not worth much. But to the parent? It’s priceless. Because it wasn’t about the paper or the crayons—it was about the love behind it. In this week’s parsha, we…
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Parshat Tetzaveh is unique—it is the only parsha from Moshe Rabbeinu’s birth until Eikev where his name is absent. Instead, Hashem addresses him with “V’ata”—“And you.” The Baal HaTurim explains that this omission fulfills Moshe’s own words in Ki Tisa: “Mecheini na misifrecha”—”Erase me now from Your book.” After the sin of the Golden Calf,…
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I Thought I Had a Superpower For the last decade, I believed my ADHD meds gave me a superpower. Six hours of laser focus.Six hours of clarity.Six hours where my brain worked the way I always wished it would. I felt unstoppable. I could think, write, create, and execute at a level that finally felt…
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The Torah commands:“וְיִקְחוּ־לִי תְּרוּמָה” – “And they shall take for Me a donation.” (Shemot 25:2) Am Yisrael had just witnessed the greatest miracles in history—Yetziat Mitzrayim, Kriyat Yam Suf, and Matan Torah. They stood at the peak of spiritual elevation. And now, Hashem asks them to give. But not just gold and silver—something far greater.…
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In Parshat Mishpatim, Hashem tells Moshe: “Ascend the mountain and be there (ve’yehi sham), and I will give you the tablets, the Torah, and the mitzvot that I have written to teach them.” (Shemot 24:12) At first glance, this phrase seems redundant. If Moshe is going up the mountain, of course, he is there! Why…
