Parsha Hashavuah
Suburban Orthodox Congregation Invites all Men of the Community to a Siyum & Seudah Kumzitz
_Hadran Alach Mesechta Nazir_ Suburban Orthodox Invites all Men of the Community to a Siyum & Seudah Kumzitz with guest musician Eli Beer on Thursday, Mar....
Rabbi Reuven Taragin on Pirkei Avot: Earning Our Lives
Earning Our Lives רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בֶן חֲכִינַאי אוֹמֵר, הַנֵּעוֹר בַּלַּיְלָה וְהַמְהַלֵּךְ ב...
Parshas Vayakhel/Pekudei - Under Construction
I was recently walking by an area that was under construction and I noticed a yellow and black caution sign nearby the work zone, which read as follows: Please ...
Listen to the Torah Sparks Podcast: Good Chicken Sandwiches (Vayakhel/Pekudei) [Audio]
Baltimore, MD - Mar. 17, 2023 - The claim to fame of the Jewish people is so much more than just our ability to make "good chicken sandwiches." We were given th...
Parshas Vayakhel/Pikudei - A Time for Reflection
After a full accounting of all the donations that were given and of the various materials and vessels that were constructed, was concluded, the Torah describes ...
Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Change and Consistency (Vayakhel-Pikudei)
Numerous Parshios are devoted to the creation and fabrication of the Mishkan and its utensils. The details contained in these Torah portions are not simply the ...
Watch: Rabbi Yonah Sklare on Parashat Vayekhel-Pekudei: Home Is Where the Soul Is (Video)
Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...
Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Vayakhel Pekudei 5783/2022
Baltimore, MD – Mar. 2023 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff: Some of the Laws of Seudah Shelishis
Some of the Laws of Seudah Shelishis Question #1: Min haTorah or not? Is eating three meals on Shabbos a Torah requirement? Question #2: Shaloshudis? Why do...
Avoda of Nissan
Bnei Yisroel were redeemed from Mitzrayim on Pesach. The Ramban, in his psicha for Chumash Shemos, says that galus&...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion, Vayak'hel-Pekudei / Yehi Ratzon (May It Be His Will)
It's one of the most beautiful blessings, and it came from Moshe Rabbeinu The nation of Israel dedicated itself to building the Mishkan (sanctuary), the sp...
Rabbi Reuven Taragin on Pirkei Avot: Doing More Than We Say
שַׁמַּאי אוֹמֵר… אֱמֹר מְעַט וַעֲשֵׂה הַרְבֵּה… (אבות א:טו) שִׁמְעוֹן בְּנוֹ או...
Parshas Ki Sisa - What's Going on Hear?
This past Wednesday marked the 1st yahrtzeit of HaRav Chaim Kanievsky. The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Shemaryahu Yosef Chaim ben Yaakov Yisrael...
Rabbi Ori Strum: Motiv8 Parshah Flyer to Print for Your Shabbos Table - Ki Sisa
Baltimore, MD - Mar. 10, 2023 - Click on the graphic below for a larger, printable copy ...
Parshas Ki Sisa - Down, But Never Out!
After discovering the people wildly rejoicing over the Golden Calf, Moshe throws down the Tablets and shatters them. He confronts his brother Aharon wondering h...
Parshas Ki Sisa - Time is of OUR Essence
One of my favorite morning breakfast cereals is the well-known Life Cereal made by Quaker Oats. It has the perfect flavor, texture, and crunch. However, there i...
Listen to the Torah Sparks Podcast: The Art of Magna Tiles (Ki Sisa) [Audio]
Baltimore, MD - Mar. 9, 2023 - If you enjoy playing with your child's toys, that's ok. You are not alone. Research has shown that when adults play wit...
Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Remember the Good Times (Ki Sisa)
No matter how many times we read it, it is still difficult to comprehend. On the heels of the most dramatic, inspirational, and transformative experience, we hi...
Parshas Ki Sisa: The Yet Has Come to Best!!
We are reminded in many places that the Torah does not necessarily record events in precise chronological order. Sometimes there are specific lessons to b...
Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Ki Sisa 5783/2022
Baltimore, MD – Mar. 2023 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / What Will We Take With Us From Purim?
Happy Purim from Jerusalem! Today is Shushan Purim, named for the fact that the fighting in Shushan, a walled city, lasted a day longer than elsewhere and so Je...
Purim 5783: Of Ditches and Dirt
The world recently marked a full year since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sitting around the table at the seudah last year, I offered my very amateur – and...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion, Purim / Venahafoch Hu; When Everything Flips
Happy Purim. "Venahafoch hu - Everything flips"; these are the two key words in Megillat Esther and in our lives as well. Everything can suddenly be turne...
Parshas Tetzaveh - Mizbei'ach Out of Place
In general, of the two parshios that deal in depth with various technical details, parshas Terumah is dedicated to the architectural detail ...
Parshas Tetzaveh - Living on the Edge
We are well into the month of Adar, with Purim already well within view. There is a tradition that each of the twelve months of the year correspond to one of t...
Parshas Tetzaveh - Proper Lighting
Have you ever noticed that your mood seems to change depending on the lighting in the room that you find yourself in? The reason you may have noticed this is be...
Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives:Titzaveh: One Small Spark
V’Ata Titzaveh es Bnai Yisroel, V’Yikchu Elecha Shemen Zayis Zach Kasis La’Maor L’Haalos Ner TamidYou shall command the Children of Israel and have them...
Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’:Tetzaveh 5783/2022
Baltimore, MD – Mar. 2023 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / Mishloach Manot
Every year I forget to publicize this special Purim story in time for the holiday. So here it is with several days to consider how to apply the lesson that it t...
Listen to the Torah Sparks Podcast: Mishpatim - Make Sure YOU Come (Tetzaveh) [Audio]
Baltimore, MD - Mar. 2, 2023 - We do a lot of things. We daven, we learn, we do chessed. But instead of just going through the motions, we need to strive to liv...
Watch: Rabbi Yonah Sklare - Adar: The Laugh of Dreamers (Video)
Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...
Why The Megillah is Named After Esther
Why The Megillah is Named After Esther Leadership is “a process of social influence in which one person enlists the aid and support of ot...
Parshas Terumah - The Perfect Pair
Yesterday, 2 Adar, was the 17th yahrtzeit of my Zadie, Rabbi Yaakov Bulka. The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Chaim Yaakov ben Yitzc...
Megillas Esther 5783
The background story of the megilloh starts with who is Achashveirosh. Achashveirosh was a stable boy for Belshazzar. His daughter happened to fall in love w...
Parshas Terumah - Where Did That Come From?
It's important to keep things fresh. After all, repetition and familiarity can lead to taking things for granted. That’s why I thought it mig...
Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Terumah- Lessons From The Trees
“And this is the offering that you shall take from them: gold, silver, and copper; blue, purple, and crimson wool; linen and goat hair; ram skins dyed red, ta...
Parshas Terumah - Givers and Takers
They shall make a Sanctuary for Me — so that I may dwell, בתוכם — among them (שמות כה ח) The Holy Alshich famously interprets this promise of G...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / Taking The Broken Pieces With Us
All of us carry unpleasant memories of past misdeeds. We recall costly mistakes and bad choices. Some hold the view that we need to liberate ourselves from thes...
Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Terumah 5783/2022
Baltimore, MD – Feb. 2023 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / 6 Simple Ways To Be Miserable
"When Adar enters, we increase in joy," and the new month of Adar is being observed today. To explain why people fail to experience joy, Dr. Sol Herzig, an Amer...
Watch: Rabbi Yonah on Chodesh Adar: What Is So Funny? (Video)
Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / 5 Items Regarding The Month Of Adar
1. "When Adar enters, we increase in joy." It enters today. Today and tomorrow we observe Rosh Chodesh, the new month. 2. The source of the word "Adar"...
Rabbi Reuven Taragin on Pirkei Avot: If Not Now...
If Not Now הוּא (הִלֵּל) הָיָה אוֹמֵר… וְאִם לֹא עַכְשָׁיו, אֵימָתָי (אבות א:יד): Hillel cl...
Parshas Mishpatim - I Am Ready!
I have just returned hours ago from a six-day whirlwind trip to Eretz Yisroel, having spent most of that time attending the marvelous Agudath Israel Yarchei Kal...
Parshas Mishpatim - Cop in My Rear-View Mirror
I’m sure you’ve been there before. You are driving in a car and minding your own business, when all of a sudden you see a cop in your rear-view mirror. Imme...
Parshas Mishpatim - There's No Such Thing as Random
Parshas Mishpotim is a very puzzling parsha. We just finished kabbolas haTorah in Parshas Yisro and Klal Yisroel told Hashem that it was too overwhelming and th...
Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Mishpatim - Salvational Servitude
And these are the ordinances that you shall set before them. Should you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall work [for] six years, and in the seventh [year], he shall g...
Watch: Let's Talk Kashrus - Now You're Getting Warmer (Video)
How to Reheat Food on Shabbos. Join us as we listen in to a conversation between R’ Shmuel Fuerst, Dayan of Agudas Yisroel of Illinois and Rav of Agudas Yisro...
Listen to the Torah Sparks Podcast: Mishpatim - Red Pens and the Power of Seeing the Good [Audio]
Baltimore, MD - Feb. 16, 2023 - If you have a negative association with red pens, you are not alone. Research has shown that when teachers use red ink pens to m...
Bring Your Shabbos Table Alive with Your Own Copy of ‘TableTalk’: Mishpatim 5783/2022
Baltimore, MD – Feb. 2023 - Every Shabbos table offers every Jewish family an incredible opportunity by which they can share their joy for Shabbos, for Yiddis...
Eved being a Mazik
In Shmos 21:35 we learn about a scenario regarding an ox that gores another person’s ox, and the second animal dies. The Gemara in Ba...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion / On unity, working as an emissary, and the power of women
Good morning from New York. Here are a few lessons I learned here at the annual gathering of the women emissaries of Chabad. 1. Unity is not a cliche. Partic...
Rabbi Reuven Taragin on Pirkei Avot: For Poorer, For Richer
רַבִּי יוֹנָתָן אוֹמֵר, כָּל הַמְקַיֵּם אֶת הַתּוֹרָה מֵעֹנִי, סוֹפוֹ לְקַיְּמָהּ מ...
Watch Rabbi Yonah Sklare on Parashat Mishpatim: Torah as a Rendezvous with the Divine (Video)
Rabbi Yonah Sklare is a Rosh Kollel in Baltimore, MD as well as Magid Shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. His refreshingly creative approach to learning as we...
Parshas Yisro - It's the Focus
At the beginning of the parsha, we learn that Yisro was so inspired by the news of the great miracles of the Jews' exodus from Egypt that he...
Pashas Yisro - Honoring Parents and In-Laws
In Parshas Yisro, we see the mitzvah of honoring one’s parents. In Parshas Kedoshim we see the mitzvah of re...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion, Yitro / Have You Read The Ten Commandments Lately?
In this week's Torah portion of Yitro, the nation of Israel receives the Ten Commandments. Here is a reminder of their content: 1. "I am the Lord your God...
Parshas Yisro - A Kodak Moment
One of the greatest success stories in the 20th century was the story of Kodak, or The Eastman Kodak Company, which was founded by George Eastman in 1888. In th...
Rabbi Shmuel Silber - Parsha Perspectives: Yisro - Lowering & Lifting
“It came about on the next day that Moses sat down to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from the morning until the evening. When Moses’ fa...
Pashas Yisro - How We Are Measured
The principals taught by R' Yishmael in the breisa at the beginning of sifra include thirteen methods of learning specific halachos from the context ...
Listen/Watch to the Torah Sparks Podcast: Kodak's Failure: A Lesson in Complacency (Yisro) [Audio/Video]
Baltimore, MD - Feb. 9, 2022 - There was nothing about Kodak filing for bankruptcy in 2012 that made it a "Kodak Moment." It was a moment of disaster and great ...
Sivan Rahav-Meir / The Daily Portion, Yitro / How Do We Get Our Message Across?
How do we get our message across? In this week's Torah portion, the nation of Israel receives the Ten Commandments.Regarding the Revelation at Mount Sinai,...