DO WE REALLY KNOW? ככתוב בתורתו: וידעת היום והשבת אל לבבך כי ה’ הוא האלוקים… …as it is written in His Torah: “You are to know this day and take to your heart that Hashem is the only G-d…” ***** Knowing that “ ה’ הוא האלוקים –Hashem Hu HaElokim (Hashem is the only G-d)” must […]

Banim La’Shem! – Always and Everywhere! Although Aleinu was composed by Yehoshua bin Nun, and the Anshei K’neses HaG’dolah instituted its inclusion in the Malchiyus section of tefilas Musaf on Rosh HaShanah, it was Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai who instituted saying it daily after each tefilah.  He did this to strengthen the emunah and spirits of klal Yisrael, who were living through the painful times of the […]

Standing in the Kodesh HaKodashim We recite Aleinu daily, many of us three times a day; perhaps because we have grown so accustomed to saying it, many of us unfortunately do not appreciate the significance and importance of this tefilah.  In fact, we are often mentally on our way to the next part of our day as we […]

Praying for a Better Future  Last week and this week, in preparation for Elul, we are reviewing some of the first segments from the start of the Shemoneh Esrei series. At the start of Elul, rather than plunging ourselves into cheshbon ha’nefesh (accounting of one’s soul), many advise to begin by strengthening the core areas of our avodas Hashem.  Since […]

HaRav Aharon Kotler zt”l highlighted in a very strong way the extraordinary opportunity and gift of the month of Elul, which Hashem has granted to us.  He wrote: ונפתחים שערי חסד ורחמים, ואפשר להשיג בין בתשובה ובין בתורה ועבודה במעט עמל מה שצריך עמל רב בזמן אחר …and the gates of chesed and rachamim are opened; and perhaps one can […]

See part 2 here צִיּוֹן, בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה; וְשָׁבֶיהָ, בִּצְדָקָה [ישעיה א:כז] Tzion shall be redeemed with justice, and they that return of her with righteousness. A Servant’s Plea רצה ה’ א-לקינו בעמך ישראל ובתפלתם Be favorable, Hashem our G-d, toward Your people Israel and their prayer ***** We now address the last group of brachos in Shemoneh Esrei.  In the Gemara in B’rachos (34a), […]

We are approaching the Three Weeks, where we turn our focus to mourning the loss of the Beis HaMikdash.  The deeper aspects of what we mourn are the following: A.  We mourn for Hashem: the loss of Hashem’s Honor in the world.  Tragically, not only does most of the world not recognize Hashem, but the […]

Back to part 1 We are within the Nine Days period prior to Tish’ah B’Av.  May we see the salvation before this Tish’ah B’Av. [צִיּוֹן, בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה; וְשָׁבֶיהָ, בִּצְדָקָה [ישעיה א:כז Tzion shall be redeemed with justice, and they that return of her with righteousness. Are We Ready to Answer YES? את צמח דוד עבדך מהרה […]

We are now within the Three Weeks period prior to Tish’ah B’Av.  May we see the salvation before this Tish’ah B’Av.   HaRav Yisrael Salant zt”l stated that we can elevate ourselves spiritually on Tish’ah B’Av at least as much as we can on Yom Kippur.  What did he mean, and what can we do […]

Chanukah provides us with a unique opportunity to make positive changes in our lives and to come closer to Hashem.  There are numerous messages of inspiration that we can and should inculcate over Chanukah and take with us after Chanukah.  To list just a few: • To love mitzvos and perform them with love and enthusiasm • […]