Divrei Chaim

I did not want to interrupt the flow of the previous post with this point, so I decided to add it here.  Those of you who (like myself) are ...

Rav Shlomo Fischer (Derashos Beis Yishai 13) contrasts aveilus for the loss of a relative with the aveilus of 9 Av and churban habayis. Ra...

The Rambam (and Ralbag and a few other Rishonim that we generally lump together in the "rationalist" camp) generally try to minim...

Must we first define (or re-define) a gadol as being as part of "our" camp (whichever camp that may be) before we can acknowledge...

The leaders of sheivet Menashe were concerned lest Bnos Tzelafchad marry men from other shevatim and their property pass through inheritanc...

The headline on Arutz-7 yesterday had a slogan taken from the chareidi protest against the implementation of a draft on yeshiva students: ...

1. Ralbag and Abarbanel offer an alternate explanation to that of Rashi ( that we discussed Friday ) as to why the parshiyos of korbanos mu...

Once again I am short of time, but I hate to leave a parsha with nothing said beforehand, so here's something quick and maybe more next ...

1. The Torah tells us that the end of Parshas Balak that those leaders who had been involved in the znus at Shitim were killed and hung, ...

The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 566) writes that the bracha of aneinu added on fast days concludes with the words, "Ki atah Hashem ha'one...

Yesh lachkor: Is a talking donkey like Bilam had still a donkey, just one with special talents, or is it a different animal entirely -- mayb...

Before the battle against Og, Moshe Rabeinu was given an unprecedented pep talk by Hashem and was told not to fear Og. While the size and st...

The episode of Mei Meriva appears in the Torah immediately after the death of Miriam.   Rashi quotes from Chazal that these two episodes are...

I'm very short of time and want to get this in before Shabbos, so apologies in advance for not doing justice to the topic.  In the secon...

Why would Moshe ask Hashem, "Al teifen el minchasam" -- were Dasan and Aviram or Korach going to offer a korban mincha? Rashi wr...

The question of how to judge the motive(s) and sincerity of Korach's rebellion I think depends in large measure on the machlokes between...

The Kozhiglover explains that Korach had tremendous hislahavus in his avodas Hashem and therefore felt that Moshe's leadership was unnec...

The gemara writes that midah tovah outweighs punishment by a scale of 500 to 1. Chazal illustrate the point from the fact that in the merit ...

The story of the mergalim is immediately followed by the parsha of nesachim and the parsha of mitzvas challah, both of which seem out of pla...

The theme of tefilah seems to sneak its way between the lines of the story of the meraglim. Moshe davens for his beloved talmid Yehoshua, wh...