PARSHAS DEVORIM/SHABBOS CHAZON 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS DEVORIM/SHABBOS CHAZON 5777 “OUR GENERATION” The Kedushas Tzion[1] related the following fabled story: The Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination) once appeared before the Heavenly Court and complained that he was unable to fulfill his mission. “How am I expected to convince people to listen to me when my name is “Evil”? Whenever I […]
PARSHIOS MATOS-MASEI 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHIOS MATOS-MASEI 5777 “LABOR OF LOVE” Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman shlita, the beloved Mashgiach of Yeshivas Ohr Hachaim in Queens, was for many years the ‘spiritual guide’ here in Camp Dora Golding. Rabbi Finkleman nostalgically related that when he was a teenage bochur he was privileged to have a connection with the previous Skolya […]
PARSHAS PINCHOS 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS PINCHOS 5777 “SHABBOS FOR SHABBOS” A number of years ago, our (then) family’s wonderful neighbor, Scott Kaplan, related to us the following personal story: “A few months ago, I was invited to a wedding of close friends. Though the bride and groom were from New York they were celebrating their wedding in […]
PARSHAS BALAK 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS BALAK 5777 “TO LIVE WITH DIGNITY” “While for the most part I’m in terrific physical shape, I have ten tumors in my liver and I only have a few months left to live. “I am a father of three young children, and married to the woman of my dreams. While I could […]
PARSHAS CHUKAS 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS CHUKAS 5777 “FATAL ERROR” Rabbi Yecheskel Levenstein zt’l[1] was once in a taxi in Yerushalayim. The driver was a secular Israeli who had served in the army years earlier. Seeing that he had a distinguished rabbi in the taxi, the driver related a personal story: After he completed his army duty, he […]
PARSHAS KORACH 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS KORACH 5777 “THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER” Rabbi Shlomke of Zvhill was walking home from shul one morning flanked by his gabbai (sexton), when a man approached him and began berating the Rebbe with a barrage of insults. The Rebbe patiently stuck his hand into his pocket and handed the man a […]
PARSHAS SHELACH 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS SHELACH 5777 “THE COWARD AND THE HERO” In 5770, I was privileged to spend a week in Eretz Yisroel with a group of Rabbis from across America and Canada. One of the great people I met there was Rabbi Avi Berman, director of the Orthodox Union in Eretz Yisroel. Among his other […]
PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSCHA 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS BEHA’ALOSCHA 5777 “WHO YOU GOING TO CALL” My Rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, related that there was a woman who survived the horrors of the Holocaust and the Concentration Camps, but lost everything, including friends and family. For years, she would peel vegetables and cook a pot of soup every day. Then, […]
SHAVUOS 5777
STAM TORAH SHAVUOS 5777 “THE MESSAGE OF SHAVUOS” The following are my notes from lectures given by Rabbi Berel Wein, (then) Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Shaarei Torah, Monsey, NY, to the students of the yeshiva, on Erev Shavuos 5756 & Erev Shavuos 5757. I have largely tried to preserve the Rosh Yeshiva’s vernacular: Of the […]
PARSHAS BAMIDBAR 5777
STAM TORAH PARSHAS BAMIDBAR 5777 “GREATER THAN LIFE” During a visit to Eretz Yisroel a few years ago, on my last day there, I went with my brother Yaakov to Har Menuchos, the vast and renowned cemetery overlooking the hills of Yerushalayim. Although there are innumerable great and holy people buried there, being that […]