G-d In A Box | Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Parshas Teruma 5779
What Happened To Avraham Avinu?
At seventy-five we find Avraham Avinu was offered a fresh start. He is commanded to embark on a journey, both physical and spiritual. The journey would become the most important journey in the history of our people. Every step of this journey was recorded and would be studied for eternity.
Why now?
The Purpose of My Soul
Noach was a remarkable individual, a wunderkind from the outset. His arrival in the world was announced as a transformative event in history. The inability of the earth to produce anything other than קוץ ודרדר, thistles and thorns as a result of the sin of Adam and...
Backing Up Our Hearts
Our first thoughts are holy. Inscribe them on your heart.
The Journey Is Coming To An End
I’m feeling okay about the nine days this year. Even Tisha B’Av! That may sound radical, so let’s explain why. The Talmud (Yoma 5) describes a scene toward the desecration and destruction of the Beis HaMikdash by the Babylonians. According to the Medrash in Eicha, a...
Responding To The Times
There was once a Chasidic Rebbe known as the ‘Rebbe Ha’Katan’. He was six years old when he inherited the mantle of the rebbe. Because of his age, he was assigned an uncle, a great person in his own right, to guide and teach him until he was ready to take over the...
It Doesn’t Make Sense
When we pray, we are supposed to consider ourselves and visualize that we are standing directly in front of G-d. How can this be? G-d has no image that we can conceive of. As soon as we have any visual association of G-d, we’ve already gone wrong. Whether you’re...
Leadership Without the “I”
I was recently reading the great book of letters by the Steipler Rav, “Kiryana D’Igrasa”. In one of these, he was responding to a correspondent who had listed some of his problems. It should be emphasized that the Steipler was not one to make light of other people’s...
The Scandal
The Chafetz Chaim is famous for making the prohibitions of lashon hara more widely known. It is well known that the spies of our parsha spoke lashon hara about Eretz Yisroel. However one could search in vain through the Chafetz Chaim’s great work on the laws of lashon...
The Ultimate Challenge
Moshe Rabeinu has been through a lot in the last two years. He’s been Hashem’s shaliach to bring the people out of Egypt, performed miracles, split the sea, not to mention being the conduit for Torah descending from Heaven to Earth. You might think that he would...
The Hearts Judgement
There are a few things in the Mishkan and in the Beit HaMikdosh that were Tamid or constant. Ner Tamid = There was always a fire burning. Korban Tamid - There was a sacrifice offered daily and then a third which is not usually on the list. “And Aaron shall bear the...
Re-Experiencing Sinai
As we left Mount Sinai we began building a sanctuary in the desert. Sinai and the Tabernacle were not independent concepts. The Ramban taught that the purpose of the Mishkan was to replicate Sinai. The experience of millions of Jews at Sinai had to remain with us as...
Knowing When To Stop
The Torah speaks about the realities of life. The Parsha opens with a story about a man who has fallen on hard times. He has no funds and feels that he has no choice but to sell himself as a slave. “Six years you shall work, and on the seventh year you shall go free.”...
Our (Jewish) National Debt
With all the miracles that took place in Egypt, one would think that there could be a better way to get rich. Moshe in the name of God commands and even begs the People of Israel to “borrow” as much gold and silver as they can from the Egyptians. We have no apparent...
Geulah in Beit Shemesh
Based on a shiur by Rabbi Yaacov Haber Did you hear it? There was a Kol Torah in Beit Shemesh! No, I don't mean the beautiful sounds of the cheders and batei midrashim you can hear buzzing as you walk down the street. This time the Torah itself cried out. On Sunday...
We Are All Just A Little Bit Blind
Yitzchak was blind. Had he been able to see, the history of the world would have been different. Instead of giving his monumental blessing to his son Yaakov, he would have given the blessing to his other son Eisav and the geula would have been in the hands of Eisav’s...
Do the Right Thing
The Rambam, Maimonides, wrote a book of Jewish Law. He wrote other books of philosophy and many letters which addressed the soaring needs of his time. But, Mishneh Torah is a Book of Law. He begins the section on the laws of ‘Idolatry’ or Avodas Kochavim, with a brief...
Letting Go
These are my words at Kehillat Shivtei Yeshurun, Ramat Beit Shemesh this Rosh HaShanah. They are still pertinent today. The words that I’d like to share with you tonight actually took me about 50 years to prepare. Tonight, as we greet Rosh HaShanah into our lives, I’d...
A Brand New World; Where do I Fit In?
"היום הרת עולם היום יעמיד במשפט כל יצורי עולמים" "Today is the birth day of the world; today all creations are judged." The world was created on Rosh HaShanah and according to our sages it is recreated every year on Rosh HaShanah. It's a new world, complex and...
Re’eh!
“See! I give to you today the blessing and the curse.” This portion of the Torah is called “See!” Why “See!” Why should we be seeing here more than in everything else that Moshe transmitted to us from G-d? Why not “See! I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of...
Junk Food For The Soul
I don’t usually comment on world events but it’s difficult not to comment on the recent news from France, as some kind of response is needed .What is it that motivates someone to murder multiple strangers in cold blood? Who was Bilam? People often think of him as some...
The Logic Of The Heart
The Kotzker Rebbe is reported to have instructed his Gabbai to seek a Chazan with a good heart. A good heart, he said, is so much more powerful than a good voice. Chazal often ask why one particular portion of the Torah is placed next to another, albeit apparently...
The Spiritual Summit
The Spiritual Summit Moshe Rabeinu, into his eighties, has been through a lot in the last two years. He’s been G-d's messenger to bring the people out of Egypt, he performed miracles, he split the sea, he was the conduit for Torah descending from Heaven to Earth. By...
Choose To Be Happy
"In memory of my father in law Matisyahu ben Chaim Refael Poliakoff and his father Chaim Refael ben Menachem Mendel, whose Yohrtzeits we are commemorating this week. May Hashem give them a lichtigen Gan Eden." There are two stark admonishments in the Torah, in our...
Going Casual
The Torah tells us in stark terms what the outcome will be if we do not live up to specific expectations. The recurring theme is that we must not do what is described as ‘going with G-d ‘b’keri’ or indifference - casualness. “If you will be indifferent to Me; I too...
Join The Ahronian Movement
There is a Midrash that at Aharon HaKohen’s funeral procession he was accompanied by 80,000 young men. There was a curious fact about all of these young men - they were all called Aharon. They were, in fact referred to as the Aharonim. Why were there so many young men...
The Danger of Renaissance
Rav Yanai was a giant in his generation, the generation immediately following the leadership of Rebbe Yehudah Hanasi. After a long period of persecution by the Roman Empire and post the Hadrian Decrees, Rebbe Yehudah HaNasi ushered in a new generation of renaissance....
Can Jewish Leaders Work Together?
We are waiting for the Shechina to come down. It's not happening! What can we do? "And it came to pass on the eighth day of inauguration of the Mishkan" Six Parshios and at least 12 difficult tractates of the Talmud are dedicated to getting us ready for this great...
Choose to Shine
When Moshe came down from Mount Sinai, the second time, his face was shining. The Torah describes this as ‘karan ohr panev’. ‘ His face was radiating light’. Although Moshe himself was unaware of this , the shine was so striking that the Jewish people were afraid to...