בס׳ד

"Where does it say that you have a contract with G-d to have an easy life?"

the Lubavitcher Rebbe



"Failure is not the enemy of success; it is its prerequisite."

Rabbi Nosson Scherman



30 Aug 2022

Leaving Russia

Obama-Era Tea Party Targeter Appointed to Create IRS Office Overseeing 87,000 New Agents

Jews are leaving Russia again – is history repeating itself?

It’s Open Season on Jews in New York City

"Soim Tasim Olecha Melech" "You shall appoint a king over you" There is a Mitzvah in the Torah to appoint a king over Klal Yisroel. Why then, many years later, did Shmuel HaNavi admonish Klal Yisroel for asking for a king? Some Meforshim explain, although appointing a king is a Mitzvah, it is one that we would rather not have to be Mikayim. Just like there is a Mitzvah to give one's wife a Get; which only applies if one wants to divorce his wife, and that Mitzvah is one that the Torah would rather you are never Mikayim. So too, Hashem wants Klal Yisroel to be on a madraga not to have to need a king. Shmuel admonished Klal Yisroel for sinking to the level of needing a king.

http://www.thejewisheye.com/rev_pshoftim.html

21 Aug 2022

His First Shidduch

In this past week's Torah Tidbits, Rabbi Avi Berman gratefully describes how he made his first shidduch recently. Click here to read and scroll to page 4.

Israeli public bus comes under fire in West Bank attack

19 Aug 2022

My Identity

Living Joyfully with Shaindy Plotzker

What my 10-year-old son innately understood about a simple way to combat antisemitism

Because you hearken to these laws (Deuteronomy 7:12)

The commentaries dwell on the Hebrew word eikev in this verse—an uncommon synonym for “because.” Many see a connection with the word akeiv (same spelling, different pronunciation), which means “heel.”

Rashi interprets this as an allusion to those mitzvot which a person tramples with his heels—the Torah is telling us to be equally diligent with all of G‑d’s commandments, no less with those that seem less significant to our finite minds.

Ibn Ezra and Nachmanides interpret it in the sense of “in the end” (i.e., “in the heels of,” or in the sense that the heel is at the extremity of the body)—the reward being something that follows the action. A similar interpretation is given by Ohr HaChaim, who explains that true satisfaction and fulfillment comes at the “end”—the complete fulfillment of all the mitzvot, and by Rabbeinu Bechayei, who sees it as an allusion that the reward we do receive in this world is but a lowly and marginal (the “heel”) aspect of the true worth of the mitzvot.

Baal HaTurim gives a gematriatic explanation: the word eikev is used because it has a numerical value of 172—the number of words in the Ten Commandments.

Tzemach Tzedek (the third Chabad rebbe) sees it as a reference to ikveta d’meshicha, the generation of “the heels of Moshiach” (the last generation of the exile is called “the heels of Moshiach” by our sages because: a) they are the spiritually lowest generation, due to the “descent of the generations”; b) it is the generation in which the footsteps of Moshiach can already be heard). This is the generation that will “hearken to these laws,” as Maimonides writes: “The Torah has already promised that the people of Israel will return to G‑d at the end of their exile, and will be immediately redeemed.”

https://www.chabad.org/parshah/in-depth/default_cdo/aid/53666/jewish/Eikev-In-Depth.htm

16 Aug 2022

The Seized Passports

DOJ offers Trump his passports back



Why is the above tweet not flagged as disinformation?

Man Fined Thousands Of Dollars For Littering Anti-Semitic Fliers At Homes

13 Aug 2022

5 Minutes

Senior UN official loses her post after tweet condemning PIJ rocket fire at Israel

NY Times cuts ties with Gaza freelancer who called to kill Jews ‘like Hitler did’

"LiDaber Bam BiShivticha BiVaysacha UvLechticha VaDerech..."

"You must learn Torah at all times - when you are sitting in your home or traveling on the road etc.

"A person once came to Rabbi Yisroel Salanter and asked him, "Rebbi, I only have 5 minutes a day to study Torah, what topic should I study during that time?" R' Yisroel answered, "Study Mussar during those 5 minutes, you will then see that you really have a lot more time than 5 minutes a day to learn Torah.

http://www.thejewisheye.com/rev_peikev.html

7 Aug 2022

We Did Not Eat

Joint List MK deletes tweet blaming Israel for children's deaths

Al Jazeera initially published, "Israeli jets pounded the Gaza Strip for a second day on Saturday, killing at least 24 people, including six Palestinian children." An updated article reads, "A senior commander of a Palestinian armed group and six children have been killed in the Gaza Strip as Israeli jets continued their bombing of the besieged enclave."

Tisha B’Av Program with Rabbi Simon Jacobson

Miriam Peretz welcomes grandchild as IDF kills operative that killed her son

5 Aug 2022

4 Aug 2022

In the Palm of Your Hand

Neighbors react as daughters of Washington Hebrew Congregation leader die in house fire

Ryan Jewell posted on Facebook "URGE your friends, family, your public-everyone and anyone who will listen to INSURE that wherever they stay-home or away-sleepovers, friends homes, vacation homes-name it..that there are working smoke alarms. Pack them in your suitcase, clip them to handles, put them in kids backpacks-whatever. Stay NOWHERE without working smoke alarms. Check them, Test them. Bring your own. I mean look, you can get a smoke alarm THAT FITS IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND:"

Dvar Torah on Tisha B’Av by Rabbi Mordechai Kalatsky, Rav of Congregation Knesseth Israel, Minneapolis, Minnesota