Mesukim Midvash is a compendium of Torah articles published in 2003-2004. Each issue of this publication, the complete set of which covered the entire Torah, contains essays on Machshavah, Mussar, and Tefillah. It was published for a year, but the content is timeless. Enjoy!
Moshe Rabbeinu?s continuing refusal to accept HKBH?s charge to go to Egypt ? maybe the way to think about it is maybe it tells us something about what an interaction [...]
. R' Micha Berger wrote: ? Taam Elyon has one sof pasuq per diberah. and R' Arie Folger concurred: > Indeed. That is literally what the Ta'am Elyon is for, [...]
. This week, we read Tetzaveh, which tells us about the Choshen and the twelve jewels placed in it. You may think you know how those jewels are arranged, but [...]
On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 06:58:00PM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote: > This struck me as odd. My understanding is that Christians consider "I am > Hashem..." to [...]
I know that R SR Hirsch and R Sacks makes shaatnez and all the kelayim laws about respecting the order put into Maaseh Bereishis. Which would make the prohiibition of [...]
In Avodah v44n11 someone wrote: > > My question: Are there any authoritative Jewish sources which > clearly identify these ten? Do Chazal ever say "This is the first, > [...]
R' Micha Berger wrote: > Taam Elyon has one sof pasuq per diberah. In the Simanim Tikun, for the Taam Elyon, it lists the number of each dibra but the [...]
On Wed, 18 Feb 2026, 11:36 Akiva Miller via Avodah, < avodah at lists.aishdas.org> wrote: > R' Micha Berger wrote: > > Taam Elyon has one sof pasuq per diberah. [...]
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 12 Episode 25:Gvirbusters:Speaking Truth to the Power of the Purse Stringshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/114946 [...]
Rav Dessler on the Simcha of Dveykus on Purim and Rav Hutner on Yom Kippurim=Yom K'Purim Interesting to note that Rav Dessler says he heard the idea from my grandfather zt"l's Rebbe, [...]
Beckhofer=Bechhofer 😊(me) [...]
What is the Best Way to Repeat Zeicher/Zecher in Parashas Zachor?(According to Ashkenazim)A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This Episodehttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/114803Rischa D'Araisa Season 12 Episode 24:Stirring A Delectable Pot of Lomdus and Halacha:A Tribute to Rav Moshe Sternbuch on his 100th Birthday [...]
Rabbi Elias does a masterful job analyzing the famous quote from Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk zt"l, See the parasha sheet below.נעבעך אפיקורס איז אויך אפיקורסNebech Apikores is oich ApikoresAn [...]
More on Thank You Hashem, Some CorrespndenceA letter from a very thoughtful individual I was once privileged to teach. My comments are in purple (personal details omitted):Hi Rebbe, Thank you [...]
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 12 Episode 23:A Moderate Mea CulpaandZionism: The "Un"definitionhttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/114490 [...]
The music video that is the topic of this podcast episode.Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 12 Episode 22:It's Not What Our Zaides Did:The Thank You Hashem Phenomenon and Its [...]
You can find all the presentations from the 2025 and past years at: https://www.ou.org/city-eruv-conference/media/ [...]
A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
מאמר על הדרשות ועל האגדות לרבנו אברהם בן הרמב"םRabbi Avraham ben HaRambam's classic fundamental work on the Aggadah and Midrashim of Chazal. [...]
Orot HaTechiyah 17:Emunah, Ahavah, Hiskashrus, Yud Shvat (Chabad) and Eretz Yisroelsubsequent episodes will be listed in the comments here. [...]
An AI generated transcript of the episode follows at the bottom of the post.Rischa D'Araisa Season 12 Episode 21:שְׂאוּ־מָר֨וֹם עֵינֵיכֶ֤ם:Klal Yisroel as Guardians of the Environmenthttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/113797Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeSummary and text [...]
The Parameters of Dan L'Kaf Zechus(Judging People Favorably)An optional snow day shiur given to the talmidos of the 8th grade at YBH. [...]
Is There Value in Learning Secular Studies? An optional snow day shiur given to the talmidim of the 8th grade at YBH. [...]
Shabbos Mussaf The middle berakhah of Shabbos Mussaf begins with a rare acrostic — the Alef-Beis, but in reverse order: starting with ת and ending with א: תִּכַּנְתָּ שַׁבָּת רָצִיתָ [...]
Shabbos Morning Last time we looked at the opening of Friday night’s Amidah, today, the next Shacharis. (We will deal with the common portion of the middle berakhah for Shabbos [...]
Or: Starting Shabbos Now that I covered “the thoughts I have while davening Shemoneh Esrei the times I think while davening”, let’s move on to the Amidah for Shabbos. The [...]
The Torah only uses the phrase “לֹא־טוֹב / it is not good” twice:Once when Hashem created Adam before Chavah — “לֹא־ט֛וֹב הֱי֥וֹת הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְבַדּ֑וֹ / It is not good for [...]
:רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר הַקַּפָּר אוֹמֵר: הַקִּנְאָה וְהַתַּאֲוָה וְהַכָּבוֹד מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם Rabbi Elazar haKappar said: envy, desire and [the pursuit of] honor take a person out of the world. [...]
Moving on from Shemoneh Esrei proper to Elokai Netzor, the first question is: If it’s not really part of Shemoneh Esrei, just what is Elokai Netzor? I think the prayer [...]
In Nusach Ashkenaz, there are two versions of the last berakhah of the Amidah — in the mornings we say “Sim Shalom” and Minchah and Maariv we say “Shalom Rav.”* [...]
Or: Modim, part IV Modim ends, “בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ הַטּוֹב שִׁמְךָ וּלְךָ נָאֶה לְהוֹדוֹת – … Your name is ‘The Good’, and it is pleasant to praise You.” Yes, I [...]
Or: Modim, part III In the last installment, I noted how in Modim we thank Hashem “al …”, for, four things. And how this is an example of something we [...]
Or: Modim, part II In part I, we looked specifically at the word “Modim“, and how R Hutner shows it means here both “thanks” and “admission”. That the berakhah isn’t [...]
The next berakhah of Shemoneh Esrei, the center of the closing berakhos about gratitude is Modim. In this post we will look at the meaning of the opening word, “Modim“, [...]
Now that we completed the 13 berakhos Chazal labeled requests, we get to Retzeih, the first of the three berakhos of thanksgiving. For reasons I don’t know, it reads like [...]
Shema Qoleinu usually ends either“כִּי אַתָּה שׁוֹמֵֽעַ תְּפִלַּת עַמְּ֒ךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרַחֲמִים – because You Listen to the prayers of Your nation Israel with Compassion” (Ashkenaz),“כִּי אַתָּה שׁוֹמֵעַ תְּפִלַּת כָּל־פֶּה – [...]
Before that Chanukah detour, I promised to discuss the berakhah of ShehaKol further. To review what we said so far: In this berakhah we conclude “nihyeh bidevaro – is existing through His [...]
This week’s parshah, VaYeishev, this second Tefillah Meanings post for the week as well. Today’s topic: The closing pasuq of Mizmor shir leYom haShabbos. Many pesuqim in Tehillim say nearly [...]
We say in Ashrei (Tehillim 145:13): ,מַֽלְכוּתְךָ֗ מַלְכ֥וּת כׇּל־עֹלָמִ֑יםוּ֝מֶֽמְשַׁלְתְּךָ֗ בְּכׇל־דּ֥וֹר וָדֹֽר׃ Your kingdom is a kingdom over all the worlds,and Your rule is throughout each and every generation. Tefillah Meaning [...]
Nephesh Hachaim 1:13 1. T The things we say can also link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with the upper worlds, as we’ll now see. After all, we’re [...]
Da’at Tevunot 3:7 (¶ 118 [middle]) 1. We’d do well to take something into consideration, Ramchal adds here. It’s that just because something or someone is imperfect doesn’t mean [...]
The Way of G-d 2:6:4 1. G-d allowed for a prosecutor in His court, famously known as satan 1. His role is to argue against the accused, which them enables [...]
Nephesh Hachaim 1:12 1. R. Chaim already spoke 1 of the fact that we could only link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with those upper worlds after we’d [...]
Da’at Tevunot 3:6 (¶ 118 [beginning]) 1. Ramchal reiterates here 1 that wrong is a created entity 2 that was only designed to last for as long as G-d wanted [...]
The Way of G-d 2:6:3 1. Given the above, the fact is that G-d doesn’t judge the world according to His foreknowledge but rather according to the way He wants [...]
Nephesh Hachaim 1:11 1. Following up on the thought offered in the last chapter that despite our being connected to physicality we’re nevertheless superior to angels, R’ Chaim now [...]
Da’at Tevunot 3:5 (¶s 116 [end] – 117) 1. Ramchal says that he’s going to expand upon things he’d said above 1 and reveal things that are “deep” about [...]
The Way of G-d 2:6:2 1. G-d appears in each Sanhedrin and court, influences it, and sees to it that justice is served 1. Now, in some instances [...]
Nephesh Hachaim 1:10 1. Given all of the above concerning our makeup and capacities, it’s reasonable to wonder whether angels are loftier than we are or we’re loftier than they. [...]
Da’at Tevunot 3:4 (¶ 116 [beg.]) 1. Ramchal is about to offer something that will serve as a prelude to what’s to follow 1. It’s that even though G-d [...]
Derech Hashem 2:6:1 In the course of His interactions with the world 1, G-d arranged it so that phenomena that affect both the things that humankind brings about 2 and [...]
Nephesh Hachaim 1:9 1. Following through on the discussion of the previous chapter, R’ Chaim contrasts the situation of the generation that dwelt in the Sinai Desert 1 with that [...]
Da’at Tevunot 3:3 (¶’s 103- 115) 1. It seems logical, doesn’t it, that goodness would be a product of something that emanates goodness while wrongfulness would be a product of [...]
Da’atTevunot 3:2 (# 98 – 102) 1. Ramchal starts to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the world with a proposition derived from Rambam1. It’s that when G-d [...]
Nephesh Hachaim 1:8 1. R’ Chaim offers a rather complex discussion here about the positioning of the Cherubs in the Tabernacle and Holy Temple in order to illustrate his point [...]
The website 18FORTY has a fantastic and thoughtful multimedia post on OTD that is worth watching, reading, and listening to. If you are reading this then you know I don’t [...]
Spoiler, there isn’t much substance to I what have to say. Also, I am spoiling the end of the Skywalker saga. After reading an excellent essay by Rabbi Harry Maryles [...]
I checked my recent writing history today and the last legit post of mine was really 3.5 years ago. For some that’s a long chunk of time. In that time [...]
My wife’s comment on Simchas Torah pretty much summed it up, “I feel like this is the biggest tease for you.” You see, my mom a”h was niftar right before [...]
When today comes around I usually think about things my father missed since he has been gone. I decided that this year I’ll attempt to list a number of things [...]
Walking out of shul, the morning after Yom Kippur, a follow early Sunday morning riser casually said to me, “Back to normal, right?” I was taken off guard (and also [...]
I have started this post about 2 dozen times over the past 3 years and I never seem to get more than about 300 words written about why I stopped [...]
I want to share something that Rav Efraim Twerski said at his Shabbos HaGadol drasha. After starting off with 10 questions Rav Twerski said over an amazing Torah from Rav [...]
So, tonight’s the 6th yahrtzeit for my dad, Avraham ben Zorach a”h (Al, of blessed memory). Like everyone else that has lost a parent I lit my 24 hour yahrzeit [...]
“WARMED BY THE FIRE OF THE AISH KODESH– Torah from the Hilulas of Reb Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna” by Rav Moshe Weinberger and adapted by Binyomin Wolf is more [...]