Torah Thought

Only seven short weeks prior, the People of Israel were still slaves in Egypt. But now, they willingly accepted a different type of servitude, accepting the yoke of the Torah and its commandments. They had no idea of what to expect. Three Hebrew words changed the course of history. The greatest sound and light show that the universe ever saw was about to begin…

We don't need Hollywood or Netflix. If you want to enjoy a poignant love story, open the Book of Ruth. You'll also encounter a deep moral and social message that you'll never find in Hollywood.

Here's a delightful parable I heard from the renown Novardoker Maggid, Rabbi Yankel'e Galinski, of saintly and blessed memory, about a group of drunkards. This is something to keep in mind not only while preparing for Purim and Passover, but all year long.

Draft the Haredim? Don't draft the Haredim? First, Israel must decide what type of army they want. A conventional army sometimes wins, sometimes not. An army like Gideon's adheres to one set of rules only, and they're neither conventional nor politically correct.

Caesar's daughter couldn't understand how the great Rebbe Yehoshua ben Chanania was so scholarly yet so unsightly. He answered with an interesting comparison, as told here (based on the Gemara, Tractate Nedarim 50b)...

When your throat is parched, you drink. Negative emotions are a sign that the soul is parched. It feels weak. Here's how to quench its thirst.

Israel is now in a situation where no viable solution is in sight. Any massive attack on Hamas central command endangers the hostages, whom the terrorists use as a human shield. Negotiating with Hamas simply perpetuates their power. What do you do in such a situation? This is the same exact predicament that Israel was in at the time of the Exodus from Egypt. See how the Torah is the blueprint for current events, especially this week.

Earlier today, a Hezbollah missile struck a number of civilian vehicles near the northern community of Dovev, near the border with Lebanon. Six of the casualties were Israel Electric Corporation employees who had arrived to repair damaged power lines. Such an attack against civilians would cross any nation's red line. Yet Israel, despite daily threats to Nasrulla and Hezbolla, still acts in restraint. In stark contrast, the narrative of Samuel I:30 is uncanningly similar to today's war. Let's see how King David reacted after consulting with the Almighty. The lesson of Ziklag is the Tanach's definition of deterrence.

This Emuna News update finds Israel at a critical crossroads. There is no longer room for a wrong decision, for at this moment, everything is at stake.

Love is like atomic power. The positive aspects of love can illuminate the world but its negative aspects can destroy the world. In today's lesson on Chapter Four of "Orchus Tzaddikim" (The Ways of the Righteous), we learn an important lesson for life. There are seven main types of love. Each has a misplaced application as well as a positive one. We also learn important holistic health advice when learning the proper way to love ourselves.

Chutzpa is the Hebrew word for audacity. When we activate our chutzpa in the right place, we gird ourselves in strength and are able to take a bold stand against evil. On the other hand, chutzpa in the wrong place sends a person into a self-destruct mode. Today's lesson on Chapter Four of Orchus Tzaddikim - Ways of the Righteous - teaches us to differentiate between "holy chutzpa" and the unholy type.

This is a parable about our true source of vitality. A leaf thought that the other creatures who had no connection to the tree had a better life than she did. She wanted to be free and to fly in the wind. She decided to sever herself from the tree. Here's what happened: