PARSHAS VAYISHLACH 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS VAYISHLACH 5779 “ON THE MOVE”[1] In 1900, there were over 50,000 horses transporting people around London each day. To add to this, there were yet more horse-drawn carts and drays delivering goods around what was then the largest city in the world. This huge number of horses created major problems, particularly the […]
PARSHAS VAYTZEI 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS VAYTZEI 5779 “FOREVER YOUNG”[1] One day a father was walking with his son when they encountered a man who looked like he was ancient huddled on a park bench. The father saw an opportunity to teach his son about values. He sat down next to the man and asked him the secret […]
PARSHAS TOLDOS 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS TOLDOS 5779 “VALUE SYSTEM”[1] My rebbe, Rabbi Berel Wein, relates that during the Holocaust a Nazi in the gehtto was grabbing Jewish children off the street and throwing them into the back of a waiting truck, to cart them off to their deaths. As he picked up one child, the youth looked […]
PARSHAS CHAYEI SARAH 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS CHAYEI SARAH 5779 “THRIVING WITH DIFFERENCES”[1] Rav Chaim Brisker[2] once quipped to his students, “I don’t want you to learn and to think the way I learn and think. I want you to develop your own way of thinking and learning.” The disciples of Rav Chaim include some of the most prominent […]
PARSHAS VAYERA 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS VAYERA 5779 “TRUE ACCOMPLISHMENT”[1] Dedicated in loving memory of my father’s mother, my dear Savta, Mrs. Minnie Staum, whose yahrtzeit is this Friday, 17 Cheshvan. It was an ordinary day in Judge Mindy Glazer’s Miami-Dade courtroom when forty-nine-year-old Arthur Booth appeared before her for his bond hearing. He had been arrested the […]
PARSHAS LECH LECHA 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS LECH LECHA 5779 “SAVE THE WORLD”[1] The former Soviet officer who trusted his gut — and averted a global nuclear catastrophe By Kristine Phillips September 18, 2017 “Just past midnight on Sept. 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov was on overnight duty inside Serpukhov-15, a secret bunker southwest of Moscow where the Soviet Union monitored its early-warning […]
PARSHAS NOACH 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS NOACH 5779 “LOVEY DOVEY”[1] Chayn Miller is a teacher in Mishmar Hasharon[2]. At a seminar for teachers in Tel Aviv in 2016 she related the following personal anecdote: “During my first year working in the educational system I was a teaching intern. I walked into the first-grade classroom on the first day […]
PARSHAS BEREISHIS 5779
STAM TORAH PARSHAS BEREISHIS 5779 “THE ULTIMATE BRIDGE”[1] The Chovos HaLevavos[2] relates a poignant parable: There was an island that had a very unusual practice. Each year they would appoint a stranger to serve as their king. There was a single path that led to the front gate to enter the kingdom. On the day […]
Erev Z’man Simchaseinu
“RABBI’S MUSINGS (& AMUSINGS)” Erev Z’man Simchaseinu 14 Tishrei 5779/September 23, 2018 Every person is divinely endowed with certain strengths and capabilities. At the same time, every person is not endowed with certain other strengths and capabilities. One of the capabilities that I was absolutely not endowed with is being handy. After a […]
YOM KIPPUR 5779
STAM TORAH YOM KIPPUR 5779 “INSTILL YOUR AWE”[1] Rabbi Nate Segal related the following story[2]: Whenever there is a difficult situation in Eretz Yisroel I like to be there. When I am in Eretz Yisroel I wake up for vasikin (sunrise) and walk through the shuq (marketplace) in the Old City towards the Kosel. When […]