Avraham’s eishel in Be’er Sheva was more than a guesthouse—it was the first spiritual retreat. Through food, drink, and heartfelt accompaniment, he repaired the sins of Adam, Noach, and S'dom, teaching the world how to eat, speak, and walk with Hashem through hitbodedut—personal prayer and living connection.
A Practical Strategy to Survive the Darkness Let's be honest. No matter who we are or what we do, the war is taking its toll on us, sucking away our vitality. Many of us are sad or depressed. Grief, despair, worry, and sleepless nights are all on the rise. We are either directly suffering from…
We are now in the final countdown to Rosh Hashanah 5784, and thoughts of teshuvah should be constantly in our minds. The question is, what is the essence of teshuvah that we need to be working on and how does it relate to the theme of Rosh Hashanah? Let's begin with Rosh Hashanah. As is…
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…
On the Necessity of Hitbodedut In the past two issues, we wrote about the importance of waking up and getting out of bed at midnight. We focused on two tasks and their accompanying benefits: (1) by learning Torah after midnight, we draw down a thread of chesed throughout the day, and (2) by reciting Tikkun…
The Shulchan Aruch states (Orach Chaim 1:5): טוב לומר פ' העקדה (It is good to read the passage of the Binding of Yitzchak, i.e. the Akeidah [each morning]). The Mishnah Berurah explains (O.C. 1:13) that it is not sufficient just to read it; rather, one must think about it deeply and recognize the wonders of…