Rabbi Sender Haber

Rabbi, Monsey, NY

Upsherin: The Rest of the Story

My son Moshe just turned three. If he were a tree he would be entering the year of ‘Neta Ravai’ and experiencing his first harvest. He would also be a lot quieter. We gave him his first haircut shortly after his third birthday, and I shared some remarks on...

Parshas Balak: Unterpersönlichkeit

Bilaam had a very personal relationship with Hashem. He spoke to Hashem and Hashem spoke back. The poetry and prose found in this week’s parsha is very possibly the most beautiful Poetry found in the Torah. From a poetic perspective, his words seem to be even more...

We Are Their World

I clearly wasn’t worth killing and I hoped that the guy with the gun would remember that. I patiently and pensively attempted to read my attacker’s thoughts as I realized that there was very little I could do to defend myself. It was late at night and I was in the...

Outcome

I have always said that when learning Gemara, it is worthwhile to look up the sources and learn the entire amud. President Obama quoted the Talmud (Gittin 59b) as saying “The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace”. The statement is based...

The Defining Moment

In 1920 (or thereabouts) a car made its way down Rechov Yaffo. It was not the first car to arrive in Jerusalem or even the first car to drive down Rechov Yaffo, but it was unusual. All of the students, teachers and staff poured out of the Eitz Chaim Yeshiva to have a...