Sunday, November 15th 2026   |

Commentaries

Parsha Maasai: The secret to happiness

By DAVID MOELLER

This week’s Torah portion opens with “These are the journeys of the Children of Israel” and proceeds to enumerate every travel station, however long or short the stay there, from the time the Jews left Egypt until...

Person in Parsha: MASEI

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“ZIONISM“

There must be at least a thousand jokes that begin, “A Catholic priest, an Orthodox rabbi, and a Protestant minister enter a bar….” I’ll begin this week’s column with a story about...

Parsha Matos: Caution of loshon hora

By DAVID MOELLER

This week’s Torah portion Matos begins with a lengthy discourse on the laws of promises, oaths and verbal commitments. The laws are somewhat complicated, and the Torah goes to great lengths to elucidate them all.

Why so,...

Person in the Parsha: MATOT

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“HONESTY AND INTEGRITY“

Every so often, I come across a sentence of another person’s writing which expresses one of my own thoughts in a language far superior to my own. Over...

Person in the Parsha: PINCHAS

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“TOLERANCE FOR INDIVIDUALITY“

Every parent knows this fact, and every teacher can confirm it. No two children are alike. Every mother of more than one child knows that all children...

Person in the Parsha: BALAK

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“WHO WAS YOUR TEACHER?“

Except for the saints among us, we all boast. Sometimes we boast about our own natural endowments, our good looks, or our athletic prowess. Often we boast about our...

Person in the Parsha: CHUKAT (Rosh Chodesh Tammuz)

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“LET ME REPEAT“

The poem had a place of prominence on our kitchen bulletin board for many years. We had clipped it from a women’s magazine, and although it was too sugary and...

Person in the Parsha: KORACH

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“TWO JEWS, THREE OPINIONS“

We all nod our heads in agreement when we hear the phrase, “Two Jews, three opinions.” We similarly chuckle when we hear the anecdote about the Jew...

Person in the Parsha: SHELACH

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“MEMORY LOSS“

When one reaches a certain age, he does not have to be reminded that his memory is not what it used to be. These days, one receives e-mails, unsolicited of course,...

Person in the Parsha: BEHA’ALOTECHA

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB

“HUMBLE, NOT MEEK“

I don’t usually disagree publicly with lecturers, particularly when they are expressing opinions which are mostly consistent with my own. But there was one time when I felt that I...