Lowly for a Purpose
“I am a worm and not a man,” Psalms 22:7 There is an old joke among those who are familiar with the Mussar Movement: A new student comes to a Novardok yeshiva and during the first…
Four Steps of Repentance
In order to fully understand Yom Kippur, it is important to look deeper at the Jewish concept of teshuva, “repentance.” Teshuva is actually a process of self-evaluation and…
All I Need Is A Miracle
Are you an adrenaline junkie? Know someone who is? An adrenaline junkie, for those who are not in the know, are those people who love the rush of danger, who seek out thrilling, often…
Nu, Don’t Eat
A popular joke: Most Jewish holidays can be subsumed under the pithy phrase: “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” For a nation obsessed with food, what’s with all the fasting?…
Rabbi Israel Salanter and the Mussar Movement
The Mussar movement, the formal study and program of ethical improvement, was developed in the mid-nineteenth century by Rabbi Israel Salanter (1810-1883, his family name was Lipkin but…
Four Steps of Repentance
In order to fully understand Yom Kippur, it is important to look deeper at the Jewish concept of teshuva, “repentance.” Teshuva is actually a process of self-evaluation and…
The Littlest Mountain
When the Israelites were gathered at Mount Sinai, God gave them the Torah. Scholars and academics have spent lifetimes debating the exact location of Mount Sinai. The Sinai peninsula is…
Sheep Shearing
While giving charity appears to be one of the fundamental good deeds a person may perform, it is, in all honesty, one of the hardest. Our possessions, our wealth, our outward signs of…
Four Steps of Repentance
In order to fully understand Yom Kippur, it is important to look deeper at the Jewish concept of teshuva, “repentance.” Teshuva is actually a process of self-evaluation and…
Tisha b'Av,Weekly Message,Devarim
Devarim-Tisha B’Av 5761-2001
"Eichah, The Annual Search for Meaning and Introspection" by Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwald This week's parasha, parashat Devarim, is the parasha which is always read on the Shabbat that…