PARSHAS NETZOVIM 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS NETZOVIM 5775 “WHAT A LIFE” The horrific events involving the Mumbai massacre in November 2008 were shocking. Along with the other kedoshim[1] who were killed in the Chabad house, the hosts, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkie Holtzberg, were murdered by Islamic fascist terrorists, for no reason other than […]
PARSHAS KI SAVO 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS KI SAVO 5775 “THE OLD FOOLISH KING” The Alter of Norvadok, Rabbi Yosef Yoizel Horowitz zt’l[1], related a witty parable which presents an accurate portrayal of much of our society: A stranger came running into town one day, looking flustered and breathless. When people noticed a harried […]
PARSHAS KI SETZEI 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS KI SETZEI 5775 “LIFELONG BATTLE” Years ago one of my Rabbeim related this humorous, yet acerbic, anecdote: It wasn’t that Zev was bad or apathetic. In fact, in his heart Zev loved to do what was right. It was just that when it came to action, he […]
PARSHAS SHOFTIM 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS SHOFTIM 5775 “TOO WISE” Dr. Raphael Moller was a legend in the German-Jewish community. Not only was he an exceptional doctor, but he was also a person of great moral character, devoted to Klal Yisroel wholeheartedly[1]. On November 10, 1938 Dr. Moller arrived in shul for shacharis, […]
PARSHAS RE’EH 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS RE’EH 5775 “GIVE WITH FAITH” R’ Bentzion Dunner of London was a tremendously charitable philanthropist with a heart of gold. Jews from all over the world would knock on his door for financial help, and R’ Bentzion would not disappoint them. In addition, he would always lend […]
PARSHAS EIKEV 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS EIKEV 5775 “STERLING CHARACTER” A number of years ago, I read an interview in which Rabbi Dovid Feinstein zt”l discussed some recollections about his father, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt’l. The interviewer asked Rabbi Dovid what aspects of his father’s noble life he wished to share. Rabbi […]
PARSHAS VAESCHANAN 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS VAESCHANAN 5775 SHABBOS NACHAMU “A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE” During a lecture he delivered on Tisha B’av afternoon a number of years ago, Rabbi Fishel Shechter related a personal story that a woman had related to him: “A number of years ago one of my children died and I […]
PARSHAS DEVORIM – TISHA B’AV 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS DEVORIM 5775 TISHA B’AV “AN OUTSTRETCHED ARM” Fall 1944. It was already apparent that the German army would be vanquished imminently. The Allied forces were rapidly closing in on the Nazi War Machine from all sides, and it was clear that it was only a matter of […]
PARSHIOS MATOS-MASEI 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHIOS MATOS-MASEI 5775 “PRIORITIES!” “How you make your living is very different from how you make your life!” The Torah relates that the tribes of Reuven and Gad approached Moshe and requested the lands of trans-Jordan as their inheritance, and not cross into the land proper[1]. “The children […]
PARSHAS PINCHAS 5775
Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW Strivinghigher.com STAM TORAH PARSHAS PINCHAS 5775 “ON THE SAME PAGE “In the depths of my memory, there abides an image vouchsafed to me alone. I see him now as he was then—more than half a century past—a man of stature in the full bloom of life. Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, […]