This week's parsha speaks of the different models of leadership; the king, the judge, the Kohein and the prophet. It's relatively easy to examine and criticize leaders but as the saying goes; the people get the leader they deserve. As we arrive at Chodesh Elul, and we...
Responsible Chinuch
A Shabbos Shuva Drosha by Rabbi Yaacov Haber, Ramat Beit Shemesh 5770 I remember as a child growing up in ‘anywhere USA’ meeting two shluchim of Torah U’mesorah. They had come to our town to talk to parents about sending their children to a Yeshivah. They were...
Rosh Hashana
Close your eyes and imagine what the world must have looked like on the first day of creation. Pristine, fresh, untainted, healthy and unpolluted. Man is created. He is naive, pure and innocent. His face shines from the goodness of his unadulterated soul. His tongue...
Let’s Get Rid Of the Boxes
How does the Ribono Shel Olam decide our destiny for the upcoming year? How does He judge us? The answer is simple. The same way we judge others. A Medrash. Hashem said to Moshe "Hain Kirvu Yamecho Lamus". Your time has come. The end of your life is here. The Hebrew...
Teshuvah – Bringing Out the Beauty of Our Souls
There is a standard metaphor that we are taught as children. On the Day of Judgment God, the judge, sits on His chair with a large scale in front of him. Not a digital scale or the type of scale that you would see in the butcher shop or the vegetable store but an old...
Re’eh 2003
As we welcome in the month of Elul and we begin our preparations for a New Year, we must keep in mind our G-d given challenge. ‘Leshichno Tidrishu’, always keep searching for Jerusalem, ‘Uvoso Shama!’ and you will get there. We are leaving tomorrow!
The Ten Days of Repentance
The great days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, together with the seven days in between, are the ten days of repentance. These days provide the Jewish people with a unique opportunity to repent and improve themselves. G-d is particularly close to Israel during these...
Commitment, Kol Nidrei
Kol Nidrei really bothers me. Through the year we have made many types of commitments. We have committed our money our time and ourselves. In Kol Nidrei we enumerate seven types of commitment we may have made. We recite a formula that absolves us of any commitment we...
Forgiveness
G-d's capacity for forgiveness is infinite. A person has a choice whether or not to sin. It doesn't say anywhere that a person cannot do Teshuva even for the sin of murder. Teshuva helps. For example Menashe the wicked king killed thousands of people. At the end of...
We make the Difference, Kol Nidrei 2000
On this Yom Kippur we must all be aware of the following fact. The big decisions that will be made in the world will not be made in the Knesset. They will not be made in the White House. They will not be made in The United Nations. They will be made in Shul! Yes, our...
My Neighbors Neshama, Kol Nidrei 1999
I rewrote my Kol Nidrei Drosha today. Actually you rewrote my Kol Nidrei Drosha today. Rav Yisroel Salanter once commented that we have a natural tendency to worry about our own physical welfare and be very concerned about the welfare of our neighbors Neshama. Our...