Purim and the Splitting of the Sea in the Skies Above Dubai Mordechai Hager «“There is none like the Gd of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your aid, and in His majesty upon the skies.”(Deuteronomy 33:26)» There are verses we read for years, and then an event occurs that suddenly brings them to life.…

The Duties of the Heart describes the qualities of people who have developed a deep love of Hashem. Their qualities are too numerous to list completely, but several reveal what genuine bitachon — trust in Hashem looks like in a person’s life. These people have come to know Hashem not merely intellectually, but through practical…

There is a strange phenomenon surrounding Sukkos. In many ways, it is a hidden Jewish holiday. It is not only unfamiliar to non-Jews; many secular and modern Jews have almost no idea what Sukkos is really about. Pesach is much easier for the outside world to understand. There is matzah, the Seder, wine, family gathering…

באיזה אופן מי שאינו מקיים מצוות אף שכר לימוד תורה אין לו אלא תורהפירש רש״י ואינו מקיים. ומשמע שהוא לא מקיים מצוות כלל והוא רק לומד תורה. אכן המאירי ביאר שמדובר במי שמתמיד ועוסק בתורה כל היום, ומיקל בעשיית המצוות מתוך עסקו בתורה, אפילו שכר תורה אין לו. והיינו שלא מדובר באחד שלא מקיים בכלל…

From the wisdom of Rav Chaim of Volozhin (1749–1821) come words written more than two centuries ago that sound as though they could have been addressed directly to 2026. There is little need to elaborate. His words speak for themselves. This idea is expressed in the verse, “Do I not fill Heaven and earth?” (Yirmiyah…

1. Tznius — More Than Clothing The concept of tznius (צניעות) is much broader than modest clothing. Tznius is a way of life. A person does not deliberately display his physical appearance, wealth, possessions, intellectual abilities, Torah knowledge, spirituality, charitable giving, or accomplishments simply so that other people will recognize his greatness. A person may…

The Torah repeatedly speaks about the גר — ger, usually translated as “stranger.” But this English translation can be misleading. In Torah law, not every foreigner, immigrant, or non-Jew is automatically the ger whom the Torah commands us to love or support. There are several distinct categories. A גר צדק — ger tzedek is a…

1. Artificial intelligence, as generally described in computer science and academic literature, refers to computer systems capable of performing tasks associated with human intelligence, such as recognizing patterns, learning from data, processing language, solving problems, making predictions, and generating new outputs. Modern AI operates through mathematical models and algorithms trained on enormous quantities of data.…

Part 1A — מגן אברהם הלכות סוכה סימן תרל״ז ס״ק ג׳ מבואר הא דנוהגים לעשות סוכה בחו״ל, ואילו בארץ שאינם מחויבים בזה דיני עבדים, גם למ״ד גזל עכו״ם אסור — לא שרי אלא פסול של מצוה הבא בעבירה. אולם מביא דברי היראים דאפילו למ״ד גזל עכו״ם מותר, מ״מ לא היו לכם. וכפי הנראה קשה לרש״י…

The Chovos HaLevavos, in The Gate of Self-Accounting, teaches that a person must regularly examine his relationship with Hashem. The proper relationship is that of a servant to his Master. A servant understands that what he possesses comes from his master and therefore asks what is expected of him in return.A person should recognize that…