Jewish Holidays

A man once came to his rabbi with a complaint: "Rabbi, I work very hard and make hardly any money." The rabbi said, "I can give you a higher paying job, and it's also very easy work." The man jumped with joy and said, "I'll take it!" The rabbi said, "Great. Take this hammer and swing it up and down, over and over at a set pace, and I'll pay you per hour." The man said, "Sounds both easy and profitable," and immediately got to work....

That is, the dispersed and exiled nation will arouse to general repentance and will seek to return to the Holy Land. The next stage is that G-d will ingather them together in the Land, no matter how far and wide they are dispersed. This will be a unique display of Divine providence and aid for the ingathering of the Land's children in joy. And then will come the final stage...

So much has been written over the course of history about the always-fascinating topic of Love. It encompasses many aspects of our lives, whether between parents and children, between G-d and mankind, between man and woman, or just simply various experiences in which we "love" to engage. The Torah tells us to "love your friend as yourself" and to "love Hashem your G-d." It also relates that Yitzchak loved his wife Rivka, and that the two of them loved each of their sons, respectively. Yet, there is still much room to clarify what precisely is the Torah's approach to this issue.

Every year at this time, we mourn the destruction of the Temple and pray for its rebuilding. Does this mean that the Temple will actually be built this year?

...It is interesting that one particular deficiency humbly hid itself for many generations among the other things we lacked, finding its expression chiefly in allusions of the Sages of the Kabbalah. However, in our times, it appears to be peeking out and budding forth, gradually becoming a bitter, silent, but great cry...

...There is a tremendous difference between the Torah of Eretz Yisrael and that of the Diaspora. In the Land of Israel, the abundance of Holy Spirit bursts out upon every Torah scholar who wishes to study Torah for its own sake – and all the more so upon a group of Torah scholars… The very source of the Exile and humiliation in the world is simply the fact that no one declares aloud the value and wisdom of the Land of Israel, and that the Sin of the Spies who spoke ill of the Land is not being corrected. There must be an appropriate response to this Sin...