What does Rav Yehuda mean when he says that the reason why the Beit HaMikdash was destroyed was because the Jews did not recite Birchot HaTorah? What is the deeper meaning?

There are no guarantees that we will be secure in Eretz Yisrael. The only way we can be successful in Eretz Yisrael is when we identify with our heritage. Sleepless Sermon for the Nine Days by Rabbi Shalom Hammer

If one goes and teaches their children Torah, it doesn’t merely have an effect on the next generation, it continues to affect subsequent generations.

What does it mean to celebrate receiving the Torah? It means understanding that there is no greater gift than the Torah. King David exemplified this.

Who do so many Jews feel a disconnect with Yerushalayim? Why is Yerushalayim not mentioned explicitly, only alluded to, in the Torah?

We don’t necessarily have to come to terms with and understand everything that occurs; we have to realize that Hashem guides historic events. Rabbi Shalom Hammer’s Sleepless Sermon for Yom HaShoah

Even when redemption is unclear and incomplete, we are still expected to believe that Hashem is somehow revealing the redemption slowly but surely. Rabbi Shalom Hammer’s Sleepless Sermon for Yom Haatzmaut 5769

Despite R’ Akiva’s losing 24,000 students, he did not give up hope and went and acquired 5 new students in order to reinvigorate the future of the Jewish people.

Pesach is a time of renewal, it occurs in the spring, the annual time of renewal and is when we left Egypt and became a nation. But at the same time we place emphasis on the past. Rabbi Shalom Hammer’s Sleepless Sermon for Pesach 5769

The challenge of our generation is the preservation of Jewish Identity. The Jewish people were created by fire and binds us as 1 force. Sleepless Sermon for Pesach 5769