Posts by Yaakov Klein
Their Eternal Legacy
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…
Read MoreLag Ba’Omer: Reclaiming the “Ashreinu!”
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…
Read MoreRebbe Nachman, Rebbe Shimon, and the Joy of Lag Ba’Omer
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?…
Read MoreLPI: Moving In, Not Moving On
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…
Read MoreMore Than Just a Segulah
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…
Read MoreA Song of Strength and Hope: The Message of “Journey”
Shalom uveracha friends! I hope everyone is having the most amazing chag! The composition above, “Journey”, is a song I wrote in 10th grade as a young teen trying his very best to weather the treacherous storms of adolescence – the winding “derech” from youth to adulthood discussed at length in the opening chapter of…
Read MoreFighting Ice with Fire: The Final Battle Against Amalek
The lifetime of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, incredibly consequential and remarkably brief, may be likened to a flash of lightening in the dead of night whose momentary illumination grants a measure of clarity and direction that remains long after it is gone. But in truth, Rebbe Nachman was more similar to lightening sustained – a…
Read More“Seder”
There are few nights approached with as many expectations as the first night of Pesach. We prepare, we dream, we learn, we plan, we buy engaging haggados (and fine wine) for the adults and props and candies for the kids. Surely, everyone will be perfectly behaved. Surely, everything will proceed exactly in accordance with our…
Read MoreThe Inner Light of Pesach #3: Elevating the Limits of Time
ONE OF THE hallmarks of Pesach is the acute focus on zmanim, halachic times. There is much discussion in the Gemara and poskim regarding the proper times for removal of chametz, the proper time after which one may no longer eat chametz on erev Pesach, how much matzah in how much time one must eat…
Read MoreThe Inner Light of Pesach #2: The Secret Meaning of Bedikah and Bittul
IN THE BEGINNING of night on the fourteenth of Nissan, we check the places in our property where chametz may have been brought by the light of a candle (or, if one is unable, a flashlight – see Halichos Shlomo vol 1, 5:11 and Piskei Teshuvos 431:2). Tosafos and other Rishonim explain that while a…
Read More