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The Shabbat Queen: The Life and Legacy of Henny Machlis
She began as an ordinary girl from Brooklyn—yet her life would ascend to extraordinary spiritual heights, placing her among the truly righteous. Who was Henny Machlis, and how did she accomplish so much in just 59 years? Born in 1950 in the United States, Henny was raised in a home that nurtured purpose, Chesed, and…
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Nitzavim-Vayelech: Circumcision of the Heart
וּמָ֨ל ה אֱלֹ-הֶ֛יךָ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֖ וְאֶת־לְבַ֣ב זַרְעֶ֑ךָ לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־ה אֱלֹ-הֶ֛יךָ And Hashem, your G-d will open your heart and the heart of your descendants to love Hashem your G-d… (Devarim 30:6) This verse describes the closeness that will be achieved between Hashem and the Jewish people following their teshuva (return), to righteousness. An interesting word is…
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What Is Prophecy and Why Don’t We Have It Nowadays?
Prophecy, called nevuah in Hebrew, is found in numerous places in Tanach. It is considered a basic tenet of Judaism, but how exactly do we define prophecy and why is it not found in contemporary times? Rav Yaakov Weinberg zt”l defines prophecy as “the reality of man receiving a direct and clear message from God.…
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Rosh Hashanah: The Deeper Meaning of the Shofar
There are multiple reasons for why we blow the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah. One idea is that just as when we coronate a king we blow trumpets, so too on Rosh Hashanah, we crown Hashem as king and therefore we blow the shofar. When a king wants to warn his people of a decree, he…
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Ki Tavo: How to Battle Against Sichon
At the end of the parsha, Moshe reminds the people of the miracles Hashem performed for them. From leaving Egypt, to receiving manna from Heaven – and the wars with Sichon, King of Cheshbon and Og, King of Bashan. Rashi tells us that these wars, the precursor to the actual conquering of the land, took…
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Does Hashem Expect Us to Be Flawless?
Rav Amnon Bazak writes of his Yeshiva high school experience: “The rabbis in my yeshiva high school …all believed that one who truly wishes to serve God must totally cut himself off from this world and devote himself entirely to God. A true Torah scholar is someone who overpowers all his passions, rises above all…
