Institutions Inform - Individuals Inspire Summary of a Derasha delivered on Shabbat Chol Hamoed Pesach at Shomeir Shabbos Congregation, Toronto. The Tragic Loss of Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples Doesn't the tragic loss of Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 disciples between Pesach and Shavuot caused by their failure to treat one another with dignity,[1] reflect poorly on Rabbi Akiva as an educator? After all, the way we treat one another sits, especially according to Rabbi Akiva himself, at the very core of Torah. Treating each other with dignity is one of the first princip..

  Peace: An Energy When a pilot wants to change the course of his aircraft altering its destination and moving its large ailerons and flaps, he adjusts a small lever inside his cockpit. From this minute adjustment on his instrument panel, he can change his destination by thousands of miles. The Jewish nation is the cockpit of civilization and we too can change the course of history with minor modifications in the ways we handle ourselves (intra-personal) and the ways we interface with others (inter-personal). World peace is an example of this idea where we can accomplish macro-imp..

Even in our dark hours, we have the capacity for Emunah, a quality that is indelibly embedded in the fabric of every Jewish soul. Dignity - in Life and in Death Browsing through some old books, I opened a holocaust work to a photograph of a row of Jews facing a trench soon to be their grave. The trench was half-filled with bodies. Behind each Jew was a smirking Nazi officer holding a gun to the back of his helpless victim's head. There was an inspiring beauty in this disturbing picture that contrasted with the sickening agony and cruelty of the scene: The uprightness and dignit..

There are times when I find myself davening with a different minyan or using a different Siddur from the one I usually do. On these occasions I usually notice things that I haven't before. Just the other day I found myself in a different city, davening with a different minyan, using a different Siddur. I was using Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sack's magnificent work. His English version is more than a translation; it is a peirush (interpretation), and when I use his Siddur I like to notice some of the less usual angles he exposes in the way he translates the text. It was in the long Tac..

    Tehillim 27:4 Elul 5767 The art of equanimity Travel is stressful. Journeys are full of surprises. They have beginnings and ends, they start with goodbyes and end with hellos. They entail waiting in lines, making new connections, crossing boundaries and encountering different cultures. We have to pack and unpack, live in strange surroundings, hear strange sounds and smell strange odors. Journeys include adventure and exploration, risk and reward, loss and gain. By their very nature they create memories, they inspire, they excite, they exhaust. That is what journeys..

Is it permissible to use "non-Jewish" methods such as Meditation, for self-improvement? Not long ago Rabbi Leib Kelemen[1] wrote to me to say that his Rebbe, Rabbi Wolbe ztz"l, quoted the chazal (Talmudic source): "Chochma bagoyim, ta’amin – Torah bagoyim al ta’amin" (you should accept that the non-Jewish world has brilliant wisdom but not that it has Torah) in this context. Rabbi Wolbe explained, wrote Rabbi Keleman, that the difference between Chochma (wisdom) and Torah is that Chochma refers to scientific and natural knowledge about the universe. Torah ref..

Please give us your feedback. The book will be published by Urim Publications Fall of 2007. A new and dazzling interpretation of The Creation Sample Chapter By Rabbi David Lapin Chapter 1   Intellect Transformed “In the Beginning, G-d created the Heavens and the Earth.” Bereishit 1:1 Embedded in the narrative of the world’s genesis lies the origin of every force and the secret of every energy that has shaped the world’s history or that will propel its future.  G-d imparts to humankind the secret of creativity in a gesture that challenges us t..

For a long time the secular intellectual world has been on a path that does not intersect with the spirituality of Torah. In modern times we have been through periods of hedonism, materialism, hippyism, obsession with science, and obsession with money.  But now a new wind is blowing across the plains of current thought-leadership: the wind of spiritual consciousness. It is now "cool" to talk of "energy", to be conscious of its healing powers, its blessing and its miraculous capabilities. New-age intellectuals avoid using religious terminology. They avoid words like "holiness", "G-d" ..