Sukkot was different that year because Reb Yisrael had learned from his rabbi that one of the reasons for residing temporarily in a sukkah is in case one’s destiny was decided on Rosh HaShana to be expulsion into galut.

Yom HaKipurim and Purim; is there an analogous feature between these two auspicious days, apart from the similarity of the letters “p-u-r-i-m”?

Every Jew – man and woman, is alluded to in the intricate texts of the Bible, as are the manifold episodes of every generation hidden behind some word or phrase in the Torah.

Where is our generation alluded to in the Torah?

Moshe and the Jewish people have experienced unprecedented occurrences: the ten plagues, splitting of the Red Sea, receiving the Torah from the Almighty Himself at Mount Sinai, the Manna, Miriam’s Well, the defeat of the mighty Sichon and Og and other innumerable miracles.

Why then did Moshe say to the Jewish people: You have declared this day that the Lord is your God… And the Lord has declared this day that you are His people…?

One of my guiding principles is to try and understand what the future holds and not what the daily headlines report that bring on anxiety, fret and paranoia. Here are my thoughts – based on rabbinic sources – regarding the true intentions of the ruthless Islamic State of Iran-Persia at this time in history.

One of the great intellectual dilemmas facing the “healthy” religious segment of Am Yisrael is the phenomenon of seemingly important rabbis in the galut who would rejoice at the dissolution of Medinat Yisrael. Their joy would extend to praising and even visiting Iran, which is close to achieving weapons of mass destruction to be used against the Jewish State.

Last week’s message evoked negative reactions of shock from several corners, claiming that my vengeful tone is un-Jewish and certainly inappropriate for a rabbi. Un-Jewish Indeed?! Un-rabbinic? Indeed! Avenging Evil is a Holy Mitzva.

As I sat on the Haas Promenade in Talpiot overlooking the Temple Mount on the 9th of Av in the 73rd year of Medinat Yisrael, the morning news came to my mind regarding the Germans who died by the torrential rains; equal to about three minutes in Treblinka.

An unscrupulous lawyer was instructed by a secretly wealthy client that, only after his death, should his son be informed of the fortune that his father had accumulated and bequeathed to him as an inheritance. The father passed away, but the lawyer never informed the son of the vast treasure that was his.

Last week I wrote about the devastating effects that fear can have on an individual, and on a nation; this week I will write about fear as a tool which HaShem utilizes at times to achieve His desired objectives.

Over and over again Balak instructs Bil’am to curse the Jewish nation and each time Bil’am blesses them!

How bizarre that Balak repeats his disappointment three times.

Para Aduma: to understand that which the wisest of all men was incapable of is certainly beyond the reach of mortal man, but that is what makes the matter all the more enticing: to try and succeed where others have failed.