Divrei Chaim

I recently saw a flyer in my neighborhood advertising a yeshiva week break trip to Panama, which is guess is the latest fad after you've...

1) Chazal tell us that each of the makkos lasted a month.  The makkah itself lasted a week, and there were three weeks of warning given. The...

Very short of time this week, but did not want to skip writing something on the parsha.  Right after Hashem commands Moshe and Aharon (6:13)...

 וַיִּ֤פֶן כֹּה֙ וָכֹ֔ה וַיַּ֖רְא כִּ֣י אֵ֣ין אִ֑ישׁ וַיַּךְ֙ אֶת־הַמִּצְרִ֔י.  Rashi explains that Moshe saw that there was no one worthy, ...

At the end of the parsha, after so many years of slavery, just as Moshe appeared on the scene and geulah was around the corner, rather than ...

1) Rashi comments on Yaakov's request  אַל נָא תִקְבְּרֵנִי בְּמִצְרָיִם that there are three reasons why Yaakov did not want to be buri...

One of the reasons (it's mentioned in the slichos as well) that we fast on 10 Teves is because this is the yahrzeit (or 9 Teves, but the...

1) Many people prefer to break their fast on coffee and cake rather than sit down to a heavy meal.  Is that an option when 10 Teves falls on...

If a drop of milk fell into my cholent but is bateil b'rov, if I decide that I don't want rely on bitul and would rather give up eat...

What is Israel's end game in Gaza?  I don't pretend to have the answer to that question.  I'm just spitballing ideas.  It's ...

1) Today is the last day of Chanukah, known as "zos Chanukah."  Rashi in parshas Matos comments on the pasuk at the beginning of t...

The Pninei Halacha from the Mir Yeshiva quotes the following shayla that R' Moshe Shapira heard the GRI"Z quote b'shem R' C...

Dreams play a prominent role in this week's and next week's parsha.  There has been some interesting discussion in the Torah world r...

From the moment Yaakov uttered the words "Anochi Eisav bechorecha" I think he was faced with an identity crisis.  The challenge to...

1) Yaakov was told by his parents to go to Lavan's house to find a wife.  Why did he diregard his parents instructions and stop off for ...

וַיִּשְׂטֹם עֵשָׂו אֶת יַעֲקֹב עַל הַבְּרָכָה אֲשֶׁר בֵּרְכוֹ אָבִיו (27:41) The simple pshat in the pasuk is that Eisav hated Yaakov and wa...

Last week on one of the hareidi Israeli news sites there was a beautiful picture of a chayal dressed in uniform who was at a sheva brachos f...

Yitzchak asked Eisav to prepare his favorite food for him (27:6),  וַעֲשֵׂה לִי מַטְעַמִּים כַּאֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתִּי וְהָבִיאָה לִּי וְאֹכֵלָה. ...

"The Biden administration on Tuesday reapproved a sanctions waiver that will allow Iran to access upward of $10 billion in frozen asse...

Shem m'Shmuel writes (Chayei Sarah 5672) that if you pair the order in which the  shevatim were born with the months of the year, the mo...