It’s 5:30 in the morning here. We were a half-hour from Meron when we heard the news. Without hesitation, we immediately turned around and headed back home, watching an endless stream of emergency vehicles rush past us in the other direction. I can’t sleep. I’m trying to work out my feelings, process different possible approaches…

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We are all familiar with Rebbe Akiva’s teaching set to the famous Lag Ba’Omer melody, “Mah mikvah metaheir es hatemei’im…” – “Just as a mikvah purifies the impure, so does HaKadosh Baruch Hu purify am Yisrael.” I have long been bothered by the following question. If Rebbe Akiva intended to reveal that Hashem purifies in…

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There is a lot of interest today in a part of the Torah which is becoming more and more revealed in our time, Penimiyus HaTorah, the inner light of the Torah. What does the inner light of the Torah mean? What does it mean to learn the inner light? Is this part of the Torah for everyone?…

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People often think that some things go without saying, that not everything needs to be spoken out. There is truth to that. But even those things that don’t need to be spoken out need, from time to time, to be spoken out. Here goes. I walk a very fine line. On the one hand, I…

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As ‘corona zman’ fades, and the nylon walls between us are torn down, Zman Kayitz begins. The Bais Medrash buzzes with new intensity, feeling more open and inviting. There are many new people to meet, new Rabbeim to reach out to, and new opportunities to explore. Much time has been spent last Zman reflecting on the…

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AS I’M SURE everyone knows, this past Thursday was the yahrtzeit of Reb Shayaleh Kerestirer. While I am aware of the possibility that I live in an echo-chamber, it seems that everyone on frum social media was posting about the tzaddik – pictures of candles l’illui nishmaso, stories of his legendary chessed, posters of free…

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3 Iyar is the yathrzeit of the legendary tzaddik, Reb Shayele Steiner of Kerestir – Reb Yeshaya ben Moshe zy”a, who was known for his unconditional ahavas Yisroel and the amazing power of his berachos. Because he passed away in 5685/1925, there are many people alive today who heard miraculous stories from people that witnessed…

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To sum up a book in one word isn’t an easy task, which is probably why we all had to write book reports in school. But there is indeed one word that kept coming to mind while reading R’ Yaakov Klein’s newest masterpiece, “The Story of Our Lives”: Transformative. Anchored in a short story, “The…

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