Divrei Chaim

So much is going on in the parsha, and there is no little time to write! " Vayishlach Ya'akov malachaim el Eisav achiv..."  ...

1. According to Avos the machlokes of Korach exemplifies machlokes she'lo l'shem shamayim.  Isn't that a strange statement?  The...

    This is a page from the Graziano Haggadah , a 13th century haggadah on loan to the Met from JTS ( see here ).  While wandering through...

Rashi writes that Kaleiv broke away from the meraglim and stopped off in Chevron in order to daven at the kever of the Avos and elicit their...

Chasam Sofer (d"h nitma rosh) makes the interesting observation that even though  Klal Yisrael accepted the report of the mergalim and ...

We are approaching the completion of our counting of the omer, the preparation for mattan Torah, during which time we have been mourning the...

Hopefully I will get to post something before Shavuos, but in case I don't, this amazing Koznitzer Magid (at the end of Avodas Yisrael) ...

In Parshas Lech Lecha we read that Malkitzedek, the king of Shaleim, brought out food and wine for Avraham.  That same place of Shaleim woul...

A) " V'zacharti es brisi Ya'akov v'af es brisi Yitzchak v'af es brisi Ya'akov ezkor v'ha'aretz ezkor ....

The Midrash (28:1) writes that the Chachamim wanted to put sefer Koheles in geniza because they thought it heretical ( modern books that hav...

The Rambam writes in Hil Aveilus 3:5: המטמא את הכהן. אם היו שניהם מזידין הרי הכהן לוקה וזה שטמאו עובר על ולפני עור לא תתן מכשול. היה הכהן שו...

Mitzvos apply equally to everyone and anyone chayav in them.  The Torah says, for example, to eat matzah, and so whether you are Joe Ploni o...

" V'haya b'or besaro l'nega tzara'as..."   Chazal tell us that as a general rule that the word "v'haya...

Isn't it amazing how people descend on supermarkets like a swarm of locusts and buy out every crumb of chameitz as soon as Pesach is ove...

It is very hard to make time to go through these parshiyos properly when there is so much to do for Pesach.  Kabbalists say there is some po...

1. Rashi 26:15 writes that the atzei shitim used to make the mishkan came from trees that Ya'akov Avinu had planted in Egypt which Bnei ...

The Ohr haChaim (32:1) writes that the Torah only alludes to the murder of Chur by the eigel worshippers, but spells out in great detail all...

Why is Purim an eis ratzon for tefilah?  Some explain that it's based on the din that requires us to give charity to whoever asks for ...

1. The Shem m'Shmuel (5677) notes that the instructions for war in the haftarah are all expressed in the singular, e.g. G-d tells Shaul,...

An amazing vort from R' Shmuel Birenbaum: among the items collected for the Mishkan were precious stones to be used in the choshen.  The...