Exploring Korach’s rebellion and his religious philosophy, its relevance and danger, Rabbi Nadel also addresses some issues the NY Jewish Community is struggling with today – Charter Schools and “Half-Shabbos.”

What can we learn from locusts?
In describing the severity of the Plague of Locusts, the Torah tells us, “…Before it there was never a locust-swarm like it, and after it there will not be anything like it” (Ex. 10:14).  The Torah seems to be saying there never was and there never will be anything as severe.  The apparent difficulty is that the book of Yoel, one of the trei assar or twelve prophets, describes a plague of locusts “great and numerous, its like has not been from eternity, and after …

This Shabbat we read the Four Expressions of Redemption (or, Four Redemptions), Exodus 6:6-7, which serve as the source for the Four Cups of wine at the Pesach Seder (Rashi to TB Pesachim 99b; TY Pesachim 10:1; Bereishit Rabbah 88).
What follows is a fifth expression, “And I will bring you to the Land…”So why don’t we drink a fifth cup of wine at the Seder?
1) According to one version of a beraitta in Pesachim 118a, we should indeed have five cups (Rambam, Rif, Ba’al HaMaor, Ra’avad to Rif), the fifth …

In our study of Torah, how are we we to view the Avot and other Biblical figures? Are they to be put on a pedestal? Are they infallible? Or, are they human beings like us, and subject to human frailty?

The Sages teach in the Midrashic and Talmudic literature that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob kept all 613 mitzvot of the Torah. How are we to understand this?

Return Again. Return again. Return to the Land of Your Soul.
- Reb Shlomo Carlebach
The month of Ellul is a time of sincere reflection. As the Days of Awe quickly approach, we focus on “teshuvah” – returning to God’s Holy Torah. Returning to our very essence.
Parshat Nitzavim contains the “Parsha of Teshuvah.” After describing the punishments that will befall the Jewish People should they stray from God, the Torah describes a process of Teshuvah, return:
“And it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the …

Anxiety begins to set in as the Yemei Hadin, the Days of Judgment, quickly approach. The month of Elul beckons us to do teshuvah: to return to Hashem, His Torah and mitzvot. The shofar is sounded each day, blaring like a six am alarm clock; waking us up to make amends, ask for forgiveness, and forgive.
This is time for personal reflection.
The selichot prayers also wake us up- literally and figuratively. Selichot, the additional service that begins this Saturday Night for those who follow the Ashkenazic practice, …

The school year has just begun. As parents, our children’s education is a top priority. As Jews, our concern is not just with the material that is covered, but the subtler elements of education: what is imbued in our children, Torah values, moral development; the affective level of education.
Every seven years, during the festival of Sukkot, the entire Jewish People are commanded to gather together for “hakhel,” a special mitzvah performed in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The King would read selections from the book of Devarim as …

Parshat Ki Tavo begins with the mitzvah of hava’at habikkurim, offering the first fruits of the Seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised.
The farmer schleps his new fruit up to Jerusalem, and the Torah provides a formula for him to recite while offering his bikkurim. The words are familiar as they are found in the Haggdah shel Pesach.
The language is difficult to understand, however, for when he begins his declaration he states, “higadeti hayom – I have declared today….” He speaks in the past tense, but he …

Martin Buber, the German-Jewish philosopher, was once interrupted by a student while he was busy meditating on something in his study. Amid his spiritual reverie, he failed to give the visitor his time despite the distraught look on his student’s face. Buber was later informed that the student committed suicide. He realized that he should have been there for this person and subsequently spent the rest of life trying to give those around him his full attention.
Parshat Ki Teitzei contains the mitzvah of sending away the mother …