Articles &amp; Newsletters

A Midrash calls Tisha B'Av our greatest festival, and the Ohev Yisrael proves it with a marriage law.

1w ago

Chevra Newsletter #29: Brighter Than Gold, Chained to a Roman Bedpost

The Romans replaced their marble statues with chained Jewish children, and what that reveals about us has not faded.

2w ago

Chevra Newsletter #28 — He Could Have Asked for Jerusalem. He Didn't.

When Rome's future Caesar offered Rabban Yochanan anything he wanted, what he asked for looked like a consolation prize.

2w ago

Chevra Newsletter #27 — The Monk on the Mountain Missed the Point

Rav Natan says your Oreos and your kids and your traffic might be the place where holiness completes itself.

4w ago

Chevra Newsletter #26 — Even Under the Table

I asked my rebbe if I should walk into the dorms and the nightclubs to find them. He answered with four words.

Chevra Newsletter #25 — Your Grumpy Face Is a Public Hazard

After a lifetime of marriage, one of Jerusalem's greatest rabbis still paused at his own front door. Why?

Chevra Newsletter #24 — Nobody Is Coming to Do It for You

On his final day the Vilna Gaon held his tzitzit and wept over a few pennies he could no longer spend.

Chevra Newsletter #23 — Hillel Says You're Withholding Life From Someone

A twenty-five-year-old at the Kotel had never heard Shema Yisrael. Hillel says that silence is on you.

Chevra Newsletter #22 — The Rabble Lives Closer Than You Think

Rashi names names in Bamidbar, and the scariest part isn't who he's pointing at.

2mo ago

Chevra Newsletter #21 — You Are Exactly as Holy as You Want to Be

Your entire standing in Torah and avodah comes down to one measurement

2mo ago

Chevra Newsletter #20— God Has Been Praying for You

The opening word of this week’s parsha is not a condition from God but a prayer, and it overturns what you think Torah is for.

2mo ago

Chevra Newsletter #19 — Your Best Moments Were Meant for Your Worst Days

Rashi hides a survival strategy inside a grammatical repetition, and it changes how you face every hard morning.

3mo ago

Chevra Newsletter #18 — The Commute That Made Him Holy

Rashi defines holiness with nothing mystical at all, and it starts with which road you choose to drive to work.

3mo ago

Chevra Newsletter #17 — Your Soul Came Down Here to Make Moves

King David felt trapped from every direction, and the Midrash turns his cry into a map of your entire life.

3mo ago

Chevra Newsletter #16 — She Refused to Sell. Elijah Showed Up.

When this Rebbetzin had nothing left for Pesach, one refusal changed where she ended up in the next world.

Chevra Newsletter #15 — God Made Names So You Could Touch Him

We say “You” to Hashem a hundred times a day, yet Reb Scheinberger once winced like he’d been struck when someone said that same name carelessly.

Chevra Newsletter #14 — Your Soul Is Not the Dirt

Every bad decision you have ever made left your soul completely untouched.

When Does a Broken Heart Stop Being Holy?

Article

The holy broken heart, its dangerous edge, and the rhythm that restores the beat in Likutey Moharan Tinyana 23 (Part 5)

Chevra Newsletter #13 — The Secret the Rabbis Knew Before Modern Science

Thousands of years before mycologists discovered the mycelium network, Chazal already understood that mushrooms draw their nourishment from another world entirely

Chevra Newsletter #12 — The Jew Who Laughed at Hitler