When you hear the word teshuvah, what do you think about? Perhaps the first ideas to come to mind are that it means to repent or to return to Hashem and His ways. We could add the notion of moving from being far away to being closer to Hashem. Maybe it is associated with becoming…
It is taught in the Gemara that David ha-Melech made it his habit to wake up at midnight and engage in Torah until the break of dawn (Berachot 3b): אָמַר רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן חֲסִידָא כִּנּוֹר הָיָה תָּלוּי לְמַעְלָה מִמִּטָּתוֹ שֶׁל דָּוִד וְכֵיוָן שֶׁהִגִּיעַ חֲצוֹת לַיְלָה בָּא רוּחַ צְפוֹנִית וְנוֹשֶׁבֶת בּוֹ וּמְנַגֵּן מֵאֵלָיו מִיָּד הָיָה עוֹמֵד וְעוֹסֵק…
It is written in the Gemara (Eruvin 13b): כׇּל הַמְחַזֵּר עַל הַגְּדוּלָּה גְּדוּלָּה בּוֹרַחַת מִמֶּנּוּ וְכׇל הַבּוֹרֵחַ מִן הַגְּדוּלָּה גְּדוּלָּה מְחַזֶּרֶת אַחֲרָיו (Anyone who pursues gedulah, gedulah will flee from him, and anyone who flees from gedulah, gedulah will pursue him). What exactly is gedulah? It is honor [כבוד, kavod], authority, rulership, dominion, power, etc….
From where do novel insights of the Torah [חדושי תורה, chidushei Torah] come? On the one hand, there are those of us who merit to study Torah day and night yet rarely come up with (or ‘are given’) chidushim. On the other hand, there are those of us who even though we may not merit…
All living things have within them a vital force motivating them to grow. We are no different. Children and adults alike, we all want to grow. And growth has many dimensions associated with it. Growth can refer to physical size, education, ability or skill, professional development, knowledge or wisdom, emotional maturity, even emunah [faith] and…
We hear a lot these days about ‘speaking truth to power,’ i.e. a phrase connoting the necessity for people to stand up for what they believe is right or needed and to tell people who are perceived as being ‘in charge’ what’s what, whether the powers that be want to hear such truth or not….
Everyone speaks of it. Some people yearn for it; some people might even be willing to sacrifice their lives for it. But how many of us really know what it is? What are we speaking about? Freedom. Much has been written about it, but it still seems to elude us in many ways. Is it…