What We Bring to Yerushalayim, And What We Take Home
When describing the Shalosh Regalim – the festivals on which we ascend to Yerushalayim – the Torah introduces a new obligation: ולא יראו פני ריקם – do not be seen before Me empty-handed. Chazal explain (Chagigah 7a) that this refers to the obligation to bring an Olat Re’iyah when appearing before Hashem in the Mikdash […]
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Hashem Is Truly Everywhere…So Why Yerushalayim?
In this week’s haftarah, we read of Yishayahu HaNavi‘s stunning vision in the Beit HaMikdash. He perceives Hashem‘s Presence and heavenly angels filling the entire Temple. He hears the lofty Seraphim call out to each other with a phrase that is quite familiar to us from our daily prayers: “קדוש קדוש קדוש ה’ צבא-ות מלא […]
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Stone and Fire: Who Builds the Beit HaMikdash?
As Bnei Yisrael triumphantly sing songs of praise over the miraculous destruction of their Egyptian overlords, they begin to prophesize. They describe their glorious entrance to Eretz Yisrael and the trembling of their enemies. Finally, they pray for Hashem’s ultimate deliverance: that they be brought to the mountain of Hashem, and the Beit HaMikdash should […]
Explore morePesach Is Coming – Please Stand With Us
Shalom Shalom to our friends and supportersChodesh tov (We were redeemed in Nisan and will be redeemed in Nisan)I hope you are all coping, in whatever situation you find yourself, in this challenging period of the Corona pandemic. Refuah Shleima from the Heavens, to all who require, and may Hashem help all those in “NEED”. (Health, […]
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Yosef the Dreamer Leads the Way to Yerushalayim
Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik was not raised in a home that affiliated with the Zionist movement. While his father and grandfather were great lovers of Eretz Yisrael, they viewed the Modern Zionist movement as a danger to the illustrious mesorah of yiddishkeit. The Rav himself followed in their footsteps. After moving to America, he remained a member of […]
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Beit Wittenberg: A Merchant Legacy Reclaimed After a Century of Forced Absence
Beit Wittenberg isn’t just another stone structure in Jerusalem’s Old City. It’s a reminder — and now a restoration — of a Jewish commercial world that once thrived in places activists and diplomats now insist were “never” Jewish. The British Mandate files, family registries, and dusty notarized documents scattered across archives all point to the […]
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Breaking Eisav’s Embrace: Grappling Our Way Back to Yerushalayim
After Yaakov successfully fends off his mysterious assailant – identified by Chazal as the ministering angel of Eisav – he demands a beracha before letting him go. The malach famously bestows the name Yisrael to Yaakov, the name with which his progeny will be associated forever. This blessing is not coincidental; through defeating the angel […]
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