Divrei Chaim

The Midrash writes that Moshe had to go through the accounting made in our parsha because there were scoffers who charged that Moshe had g...

I posted links to a few depressing articles yesterday.  Today I want to give you a positive one .  R' Shmuel Eliyahu asks: We differ w...

1) If you want to appreciate the contribution of hesder, read this article by R’ Eliezer Melamed. 2) If you want to be sick, read t...

The Midrash writes that when Moshe was making his accounting of where the money collected for the Mishkan was spent, he could not recall wha...

Rambam in Tefilah 13:8 writes:   מפסיקין למועדות, וליום הכיפורים, וקוראין בעניין המועד, לא בסדר השבת. ומשה רבנו תיקן להן לישראל, שיהיו ...

Yesterday I posted the Kotzker’s hesber that the Torah speaks at such length about the Mishkan because the cheit ha’eigel distanced Klal ...

The details of the Mishkan span four parshiyos (Terumah, Titzaveh, VaYakhel, Pekudei) and encompass hundreds of pesukim.   The Torah is us...

I take what I read in any newspaper with a big grain of salt.   That being said, if this report is accurate, the state of affairs in modern...

The Midrash writes that the Torah traces the lineage of Betzalel back to Chur because Betzalel’s wisdom and ability to make a Mishkan was a ...

The first Mishna in Arvei Pesachim tells us that on erev Pesach one is not allowed to start a meal from close to mincha time (9th hour of th...

The Mishna in Meg (25a) lists parshiyos that are read without any targum (in the days of Chazal the targum was read to the tzibur along wi...

Why does the Torah bother to record Yehoshua’s reaction to the sound of the eigel worship, “ Kol milchama ba’machanah ,” “A sound of war i...

Having done a few other Shem m’Shmuel’s this week, might as well finish it off with some more (apologies to those who want lomdus): 1) Earli...

My family likes to makes fun of me when we talk about the parsha on Shabbos and I sometimes say things like, “Yeah, I wrote that up back i...

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein's logic ( link ) with respect to women wearing tefillin -- "since nobody really does it the right way [with ...

Today is the yahrzeit of the Avnei Nezer, the Sochotchover, and considering how often I quote his son, the Shem m’Shmuel, on the parsha it w...

From Ma’aseh Ish , the biography of the Chazon Ish, vol 4 p.105 : The Chazon Ish was asked why he objected so strenuously to [problem...

Ramban, Seforno and many other meforshim ask why the mizbach haketores is put at the end of Parshas Titzaveh and not in Parshas Terumah.  ...

The Yerushalmi (Meg 1:5) has a debate as to which Adar is the real Adar (1 or 2) and which is the added month. What’s the nafka minah? I...

The Midrash has a machlokes when baby Moshe was placed in a basket and put in the Nile: on 6 Sivan or on 21 Nisan ( see this post where w...