25 Kislev, 1st day of Chanukah 5786

Sometimes a bunch of unrelated moments line up, and only afterward do you realize they were all pieces of one idea Hashem was trying to show you.

I didn’t set out to write about this. It kind of strung together on its own. Between a text message, a conversation with a friend, opening a book, and attending a shiur that doesn’t usually fit into my schedule. Looking back, it’s hard not to see how the pieces were placed exactly where they needed to be. Hashem gives us the pieces. Our job is to notice how they fit.

As you may know, I write a weekly post on the parsha, usually trying to uncover a deeper layer beneath the surface of the text. Lately, my focus has been on Shabbos, on learning how to tap into its light and carry it with us as we move through the darkness of the weekdays.

I’ve been writing about the spirituality of light and darkness. Sometimes we have to find the hidden light inside the darkness just to get through. Even when we reach the light,…

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These pieces are reflections from within the sukkah itself—a space that reminds us how temporary life feels, and how permanent our connection to Hashem really is. On Sukkos, we once gathered in the Beis HaMikdash to be seen by Hashem, a reminder that He holds space for each of us at this time of year—and, perhaps, always. May we learn from Him to hold space for one another in these days of joy and holiness.

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Sukkos Reflections

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Finding Harmony In The Sukkah

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Lately I have been thinking about the number of things we do in Judaism. So many actions seem small or even unimportant, yet we cherish them anyway. People call them symbolic or say they have deeper meaning, but on the surface they do not seem to change much.

What they definitely do is - fill the calendar. We hide ten pieces of bread before Pesach. We bang for Haman. We eat latkes on Chanukah and cheesecake on Shavuos. We dip apples in honey on Rosh HaShana and wear a kittel on Yom Kippur. Even what we wear and how we act, from tzitzis to the kippah to how we cut our nails and wash our hands, carries meaning we rarely stop to think about.

With Sukkos approaching this year, I have been trying to understand why we do so many different strange things—from the mitzva of sukkah itself to the arba minim, from the hoshanos to the ushpizin, and everything in between. As I learned, I began to understand some ideas. Others were simply above my pay grade, and more just did not resonate or speak to…

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The Seven Paradoxes Of Yom Kippur

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According to Pharrell Williams, the height of happiness is to feel like a “room without a roof.” Strange as it may sound, Yom Kippur is meant to be the happiest day of the year. The Mishnah teaches, “There were no better days for Israel than the 15th of Av and Yom Kippur.”1

So according to Pharrell, Yom Kippur is the day to feel like we are in a room without a roof. Why is this?

There is only one day a year that begins with a matter of simcha. Not Pesach, the time of our freedom, and not even Sukkos, our official זמן שמחתנו (time of our joy). Only Yom Kippur opens with a pasuk that stirs all hearts:

“אור זרוע לצדיק ולישרי לב שמחה”

“Light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright in heart, there is joy.”

The Mishnah continues:

וכן הוא אומר, (שיר השירים ג) ‘צאינה וראינה בנות ציון במלך שלמה בעטרה שעטרה לו אמו ביום חתנתו וביום שמחת לבו’.”ביום חתנתו” – זו מתן תורה.

And so it says, “Go forth and see, O daughters of Zion, King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him on the day o…

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There’s a long-standing minhag to sing Lecha Dodi to the melody of Eli Tzion on the Shabbos before Tisha B’Av. It’s a slow, mournful tune—meant to remind us that even on Shabbos, even in Eretz Yisrael, we are still in galus.

This past Shabbos in shul, the man next to me—someone relatively new to the community, a recent oleh—looked visibly uncomfortable as we began to sing. A few lines in, he shook his head, mumbled that it wasn’t appropriate to sing such a tune, and quietly walked out of the room.

He came back later for Maariv, but the moment stayed with me.

It was jarring. Not because I was offended, but because I think it touched something deeper. Something about the tension so many of us carry here—between joy and pain, presence and absence, arrival and longing.

Living in Israel is a gift. But stepping off a flight at Ben Gurion doesn’t mean the geulah has arrived. Being home physically doesn’t mean we’re whole spiritually. Singing that tune on Shabbos is one of the ways we remind ours…

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we’re not just remembering the past.

We’re carrying all of Jewish history—

the destruction of both Temples,

the Crusades, the Inquisition,

the endless exiles, the pogroms,

the Holocaust,

our fallen soldiers, our murdered fellow Jews.

We bring it all before HaShem and say:

Enough.

We’ve had enough of the darkness.

We’re begging for the Ohr HaGanuz—the hidden light.

Rav Moshe Dovid Vali teaches that Kinnos are not just words of mourning.

They are tikkun—they are repair.

In fact, the words קינות (Kinnos) and תיקון (Tikkun) share the same Hebrew letters.

These aren’t just words of sorrow.

They are words of healing.

They carry spiritual light,

they protect us from harm,

and they help repair the brokenness of the world.

Kinnos aren’t just about what was.

They’re part of how we bring about what will be.

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One Simchas Torah, a young yeshivah bachur asked Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach for a brachah.

With his usual warmth, Rav Shlomo Zalman blessed him: “You should find a good shidduch, have parnassah, and merit time to learn Torah.”

But the bachur hesitated. “Thank you,” he said, “but that’s not the brachah I was looking for.”

“So what do you want a brachah for?” Rav Shlomo Zalman asked.

“I want to be the Gadol HaDor,” the bachur replied.

Rav Shlomo Zalman’s face fell. He grew visibly upset.

“How can I give you a brachah like that?” he said. “To ask to be the Gadol HaDor means you're asking for everyone else to be smaller than you. That’s not a brachah—it’s a put-down to others. I can’t give you such a brachah.”

And it made me think.

Should we really be aspiring to be Gedolim? Should we teach our kids to?

Or should we simply aspire to grow—to learn, to be kind, to be present—and if gadlus comes, it comes. Not because we see others as smaller, but because we …

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We are living in surreal times, in historic times, in miraculous times. These are days we will one day speak about to our children and grandchildren. We are witnessing events that we will recount at Pesach Seders and Chanukah and Purim celebrations. These are moments that feel touched by something beyond us, as if the world itself is leaning toward redemption. It feels messianic, as though something hidden is beginning to reveal itself.

At the same time, it feels raw and unpolished, rooted in the nitty gritty of real life, full of earthiness, moodiness, roughness, and sharp edges. We are still human. We are still living on this earth. There is so much to be grateful for, so many open miracles and quiet kindnesses. There is also so much we are still trying to process, so much we have not yet had the space or strength to heal from. Some of us have lost loved ones in this war, people whose names and faces we carry with us constantly, who do not leave our thoughts. Others have watched thei…

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Woke up this morning with this on my mind, thought I’d share it.

There’s this kind of hunger that doesn’t want much, just a little more. A few more seconds. One last taste.

Like when you’re deep in a dream and you know you have to wake up, but you try to stay just ten more seconds because you feel like something important is about to happen. And then you wake up, and the whole thing slips away like it never mattered.

Or when you’re eating from a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, and it’s just one more spoon, one more bite, because maybe this one will hit different. But it never does. You just regret it later and forget how it even tasted.

Last licks don’t really mean anything. They just feel like they do.

It’s such a physical thing. In spiritual stuff, ten more seconds can actually change something. You can learn something real, feel something deeper. Maybe that’s how someone becomes a Reb Shimon Bar Yochai.

Maybe the last licks don’t matter. Or maybe that’s exactly when everything starts.

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There are three sirens that we expect this time of year.

They are the scheduled sirens for Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron, which are sounds that lead the national pauses. Each one ushers in a moment of silence where the entire country comes to a halt, united in reflection, remembrance, and often, tefillah. For three moments each year, regardless of our backgrounds or beliefs, we stand together as one people. In a country which is often marked by its differences, these sirens remind us that beneath the surface, we are still deeply connected.

When it comes to Yom Ha’atzmaut, we have a full day without a siren. There isn’t a distinct moment that forces us to pause nor is there any ritual that defines what we are meant to do. It arrives quietly, and for many of us, it remains in a quiet place.

This year, that silence feels especially noticeable. Over the last few months, we’ve experienced way more than three sirens. Albeit, with a slightly different sound, these sirens interrupted regular lif…

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Between Simchas Torah And Shavuos

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We celebrate the Torah twice a year: on Simchas Torah and Shavuos. The Sfas Emes taught that on Shavuos, the Torah of that year is given anew. Each year, a new portion of the Torah, which was given at Sinai, reaches its time to be revealed. This includes all the Torah insights for the coming year for all the people of Israel. Our ability to renew and be renewed in Torah throughout the year depends on receiving this portion of the renewed Torah that descends to the world. 

As preparation for the new Torah, one must engage with the old, internalize it, and study it deeply. The Torah that we learn on Shavuos is an in-depth engagement with the Torah that we have studied until now, enabling new insights.

On Simchas Torah, however, we celebrate the new Torah that we have worked hard to attain since the previous Shavuos. The Lubavitcher Rebbe taught that we do not celebrate the Torah with great joy on Shavuos, as the joy is not complete since the Torah we received on Shavuos was given as a gif…

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“When we have trust in God, we understand that we do not have to be God. We do not have to manage everything, know all of the answers and know each and every end result. We can exhale deeply and release some of our control to God.” - Ruchi Koval

As I sit here writing this, I find myself unwinding, breathing out deeply, appreciating the moment, and leaving it all up to God. We can't grasp everything, right? There's obviously some grand design, we just need to realize that God's got our back.

You can sense it just by taking a moment to look around and noticing the patterns around us. Seeing how one thing follows another, and how, when we take our time and don't rush past each moment, it's clear that God's calling the shots. So let's trust Him, let out that stress we've been holding onto, and give Him the reins. After all, things will play out just as they're meant to be.

I only pray that it should always be this simple and straightforward. There are times whe…

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Let's unpack this.

We need to accept ourselves in our current state, even when grappling with pain and confusion. It’s crucial to acknowledge the present moment, which will allow us to understand that we exist within it for a purpose.

At times we may find ourselves wishing, as we all invariably do, that things were different. Longing for an altered reality is actually a very common tendency and to move beyond it, we must recognize that this feeling isn't unique to us; it's a shared human experience.

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Over the past 18 months, I've taken up the challenge of sharing weekly reflections on Substack, drawing inspiration from the Parashah. The journey has been fulfilling, enriched by the positive responses and continuous encouragement from my mentors and our community.

While exploring and communicating divrei Torah through this platform, each post, whether a homerun or not, has been a product of substantial time and research. The aim is to produce content that is both fulfilling for me and impactful for you, the readers. I hope you find value and inspiration in these thoughts.

Now, it's time to take this challenge to the next level, and for that, I need your help.

Over the past four years, I've been sharing image quotes on social media under the name 'Insta Torah' @instatorah613. This account had garnered over 3500 followers and hundreds of posts before it was abruptly deactivated. Despite its unexpected end, I consider the journey to have been a successful…

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Asara B’Teves is Tuesday, January 3rd. It is a day of prayer and fasting mourning the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, the translation of the Septuagint and other national travesties.

Let’s use this opportunity for introspection and to merit to greet Mashiach and see the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash.

Source: Chasam Sofer - Commentary to the Selichos for Asarah B’Teves

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Rabbi Moshe Shapiro was giving a lecture and one of the students set up a tape recorder that paused when there was silence. When Rabbi Moshe noticed this, he said that the pauses are there for a purpose — the pauses allow for the teachings to be internalized. They are Torah too.

Dr. Jonathan Feiner writes in his book Mindfulness: “Insight occurs in the space between the words”

Sometimes you are not inspired by anything, and that’s ok. Sometimes the pause in between the inspiration provides greater insight in the long run.

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Is it a good thing?

I have heard many times from my father, that thanking Hashem for the past, without following with a Tefillah for the future, can cause a cessation of the Bracha.

The great Chozeh of Lublin explained that it is for this reason that Leah stopped having children after she named her youngest son Yehuda, in thanks to Hashem. While it is a beautiful expression, Hashem wants us to ask for His continued Bracha.

It is for this reason that in Birkat HaMazon, we recite Rachem after thanking Hashem in Nodeh Lecha. Similarly, in Shemone Esrei, we recite Sim Shalom after Modim.

Perhaps next time we have the opportunity to say Thank You Hashem, let us also use the opportunity to the fullest and pray for a continuation of the abundance Hashem has given us.

May we always have opportunities…

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We tend to run around before Shabbos to get everything done and ready. We finally get to Shul and daven a bit to welcome in the Shabbos. Some of us take a quick nap during the Dvar Torah, others try to listen as they calm down from the frenzied pace of the Erev Shabbos rush, just a few minutes earlier. At last Shul is over and we wish all our friends a Gut Shabbos, and head back to our (hopefully calmer) homes and go straight to a meal with our loved ones. By the time dessert comes around, we are exhausted and, barring a Shalom Zachor, we head off to bed.

Perhaps as we get ready to go to Shul on Friday night, we should pause, reflect and wish ourselves a Gut Shabbos. Appreciate the calm. Appreciate who we have become this week. appreciate our spouse and our children, Wish them a meaningful Gut Shabbos too. Once we wish ourselves a Gut Shabbos, we can properly say Kabbalas Shabbos, wish our friends a more meaningful Gut Shabbos, and enjoy the Shabbos meal with the family.

Wish yours…

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