PARSHAS BAMIDBAR 5778
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)” Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Bamidbar –Avos Perek Kinyan Torah 4 Sivan 5778/May 8, 2018 (48th day of the Omer) Erev Shavuos On Thursday nights, the Staums have “Shaarei Torah carpool”. Our son Shalom is in ninth grade in Yeshiva Shaarei Torah, and we have the pickup following maariv at 8:45 […]
PARSHAS BAMIDBAR 5778
STAM TORAH PARSHAS BAMIDBAR 5778 “AUTOMATIC RESPONSE”[1] A chassid once asked his rebbe, “When Moshiach comes, how will I recognize him?” The rebbe replied, “The more important question is how will Moshiach recognize you?” In Parshas Bamidbar, the Torah describes the marching formation of the twelve shevatim. In addition, the Medrash notes that every […]
PARSHAS BEHAR-BECHUKOSAI 5778
STAM TORAH PARSHAS BEHAR-BECHUKOSAI 5778 “CREATING INSPIRATION” Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers[1], related: “When I was writing the book, which I worked on for eleven years, I had several questions for which I searched for answers. The first question was about what the paratroopers did when the city was recaptured. […]
PARSHAS BEHAR-BECHUKOSAI 5778
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)” Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Behar-Bechukosai –Avos Perek 5 26 Iyar 5778/May 1, 2018 (41st day of the Omer) Mevorchim Chodesh Sivan – Shabbos Chazak! Last week, I was at Citi Field in Queens on two different occasions. On Sunday, I attended the Orthodox Union’s “Day of Torah Learning” held in […]
PARSHAS EMOR 5778
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)” Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Emor –Avos Perek 4 19 Iyar 5778/May 4, 2018 (34th day of the Omer) During the last couple of weeks our Kehilla celebrated and mourned what epitomizes the circle of life. On the seventh day of Pesach, Mr. Seymour Kerner, father of our esteemed friend Rabbi […]
PARSHAS EMOR 5778
STAM TORAH PARSHAS EMOR 5778 “IN ALL DIRECTIONS”[1] Rabbi Yisroel Saperstein[2] related that one of the many chesed organizations in Monsey provides volunteer drivers to help people without means of transportation to get to needed destinations, such as doctor appointments, hospital visits, etc. On one occasion, when Rabbi Saperstein was being driven to visit […]
PARSHAS ACHAREI MOS-KEDOSHIM
STAM TORAH PARSHAS ACHAREI MOS-KEDOSHIM PESACH SHENI/LAG BA’OMER 5778 “ETERNAL HOPE”[1] In 1944 Binyamin Wertzberger, a sixteen-year-old Hungarian Jew, was sent to a Concentration Camp where he was forced to drag heavy train tracks with his bare thin hands. His entire family, including a brother and two sisters perished during the war. On […]
PARSHAS ACHAREI MOS-KEDOSHIM
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)” Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Acharei- Kedoshim –Avos Perek 3 12 Iyar 5778/April 27, 2018 For those of us living on the East Coast, it’s been a long and harsh winter. Ironically, this was the first time in a few years that we had relatively pleasant fifty-degree weather on Purim. Being […]
PARSHAS TAZRIA-METZORA 5778
STAM TORAH PARSHAS TAZRIA-METZORA 5778 “THE UNDERLYING EMOTION”[1] For the most part, parshas Tazria details the laws regarding a metzora (one afflicted with tzara’as), while parshas Metzora discusses the purification process of the metzora. As part of that process, the Torah states: “The kohain who is purifying shall stand the man who is becoming purified […]
PARSHAS TAZRIA-METZORA 5778
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)” Erev Shabbos Kodesh Parshas Tazria-Metzora –Avos Perek 2 5 Iyar 5778/April 20, 2018 When I was a kid (wow, I’ve reached that age…), before Pesach I would bring home a nice Pesach booklet that contained many Divrei Torah. Today, each of our children brings home a complete professional-looking Haggadah, which include […]