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Choose To Be Happy

Choose To Be Happy

by | Jun 3, 2016 | ,

"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

Going Casual

by | May 27, 2016 | ,

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...

The Cry of The Shofar

The Cry of The Shofar

by | May 15, 2015 | ,

I recently came across the ‘tzavaa’, or the ethical will of Rav Menachem Mann Shach OBM, famed Rosh Yeshivah of Ponevez. This document was written when the Rav was over one hundred years old. The Rosh Yeshiva reflects on the whole of his long life and the possibility...

The Baal Shem Tov’s Message

The Baal Shem Tov’s Message

by | May 9, 2014 |

Shortly after moving to Israel I was given the opportunity to travel with a group to Mezibuz in the Ukraine. The purpose of the trip was to spend Shabbos in the city of the great Baal Shem Tov and to pray at his graveside. This was a spiritual trip and I was...

The Challenge of Chosenness

The Challenge of Chosenness

by | May 7, 2010 | ,

After the Nazis invaded the small village of Klausenberg, they began to celebrate in their usual sadistic fashion. They gathered the Jews into a circle in the center of town, and then paraded their Rebbe, Rabbi Yekusial Yehuda Halberstam, into the center. They began...

Spiritual Competition

Spiritual Competition

by | May 15, 2009 | ,

The Torah speaks of the greatest moral heights and the lowest moral depths to which we can sink. " ... and if you despise My Laws, and your soul reject My social regulations so that all My commandments be not fulfilled, whereby you break My covenant, then I also will...