“Rabban Yochanan ben (son of) Zakkai had five [primary] students. They were: Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkenos, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya, Rabbi Yossi the Priest, Rabbi Shimon ben Nesanel, and Rabbi Elazar ben Arach.” Mishna 11 “He used to enumerate their praises: R. Eliezer ben Hurkenos is a cemented pit which never loses a drop; R. […]

BS”D Volume 31, No. 30 2 Sivan 5777 May 27, 2017 Sponsored by the Katz family on the yahrzeits of Avigdor Moshe ben Avraham Abba Hakohen Katz a”h and the other kedoshim of Oyber Visheve, Hungary, Hy”d This coming week, we observe Shavuot, the time of the Giving of the Torah. Regarding that event, the […]

I have been thinking a lot recently about something I heard many years ago at an alumni dinner. It’s a deeply profound and elegant explanation given by a friend from “Yeshiva days”, who tragically passed away just this week. He was a young man, a father, a friend, a Tzadik. He briefly shared with me […]

“…according to the number of names…”(1:3) Chazal refer to the fourth book of the Torah as Sefer HaPekudim – The Book Of Counting. Presumably this is because of the census found in this week’s Parsha. However, this is not the first census Bnei YisroeI took. We find a similar census in Sefer Shemos. What is […]

This week we begin Sefer Bamidbar. “And Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Midbar {wilderness} of Sinai. [1:1]” The Medrash [Rabbah 1:7] teaches: Why did the passuk {verse} stress that Hashem spoke to Moshe specifically in the midbar? Our Sages have learned that the Torah was given through water, fire and wilderness. Additionally, only one […]

The Chumash of Bamidbar is devoted to the narrative of the experiences of the people of Israel during their forty-year sojourn in the desert of Sinai. However, the Torah’s narrative of any event or historical happening is never restricted to dry facts alone. In its nuanced phrasing the Torah comes to reveal to us the […]