Loyalty to the Significant Other
Loyalty to the Significant Other A couple once came to see me. The man remained outside while his wife entered my office. She related that she and her husband were on the brink of divorce. She wanted my advice on the matter. I tried to understand the reason for the divorce. She explained that her […]
Pure Bliss
Pure Bliss A Mexican woman related her marvelous story: Before getting married, I immersed in a kosher mikveh, as every Jewish kallah does. This was the first and last time I did so. For ten years, I did not visit the mikveh. I did not bear any children during these years, and was very saddened […]
Immersed in Blessing
Immersed in Blessing Two childless women came to see me to be blessed for children. I asked them to undertake the mitzvah of taharat hamishpachah, so that my blessing should have something to take effect on. Only one of the women was stirred by my words. Despite her friend’s persuasive arguments, she replied, with strength […]
Mitzvah Observance – The Cure-all
Mitzvah Observance – The Cure-all Hashem, in His great wisdom, commanded us to keep the laws of family purity in order to maintain our Jewish homes. From time immemorial, Jewish women have ensured to immerse in a kosher mikveh, and have thus experienced salvation. I knew couples in Mexico who did not merit having children. […]
Family Purity
“Your umbilicus is like a moon-shaped basin in which no mixed wine is lacking. Your stomach is like a heap of wheat, hedged about with roses” (Shir Hashirim 7:3) The Midrash states (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 7:3) that the roses referred to in this pasuk are divrei Torah, fragile as roses… The natural order is that […]
A Pretense of Piety
A Pretense of Piety I once went to the hospital to visit a fellow Jew who was on the verge of death. Outside his room, I was met by approximately fifty young men, long-haired and slovenly attired. They were wearing white kippot at awkward angles and were deeply immersed in Tehillim. Often, when one is […]
Plumbing the Source of the Problem
Plumbing the Source of the Problem At the end of Chodesh Av, a young man approached me. In another two days, Bein Hazmanim would end and the Elul zman would begin. He spilled out his heart, crying painfully that he had no desire to sit and study Torah. He felt that his mind was blocked […]
No Stranger to Mitzvot
No Stranger to Mitzvot When I was in Argentina, an unaffiliated couple asked me to bless their son with a complete recovery. I asked the father to begin laying tefillin, as a form of recompense, but he would not hear of it. I spent a long time explaining the virtues of this mitzvah and the […]
Awakening to the Toll of Death
Awakening to the Toll of Death A Jew from New York approached me when I was there receiving the public. “Honored Rav, I have come to part with you, for I don’t know if I will ever see you again.” “Why do you say that?” I asked, bewildered. The man replied that he had been […]
Soaring High
Soaring High I know of a fantastically wealthy family in New York which rubs shoulders with the president himself. Their only son grew up with the symbolic silver spoon in his mouth, and even had a private jet at his service. I found it fascinating that this boy, who never lacked for anything, felt a […]
Introspection
“Regarding this the poets would say: Come to Cheshbon – let it be built and founded as the city of Sichon” (Bamidbar 21:27) Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman says in the name of Rabbi Yochanan, “What is meant by ‘Regarding this the poets (מושלים) would say’? The word מושליםcan also mean those who rule (מושל) their inclinations. […]
The Price of Peace
The Price of Peace A New Yorker phoned me up to ask for advice with marital problems. I asked what sort of problems he had, and he explained, “There is a performance at a Broadway theater which my wife insists on attending. But by the time I managed to go purchase tickets, they were all […]
