Rabbi David Kaplan – Shares interesting aspects of this past Shabbat’s weekly parasha. One of the interesting ideas is why do our Sages say that while Moshe Rabeinu was 10 amot tall and Pharaoh was 1 amot tall. The example he gives is his experience meeting celebrities who were “larger than life” but in person they were very small. Similarly, Pharaoh was the leader the most important country in the World at this time but was very small, while Moshe Rabeinu was the humblest person to ever walk the Earth but was large in stature.
Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowtiz – Shares about the days leading up to Tisha B’Av which starts next Wednesday night. The Rav talks about the amount of questions that are asked about the details of this period of time on the Jewish calendar but points out that the more important and less discussed aspect is the importance of self-improvement and teshuva (repentance). While focusing on the details are important it is more important to focus on the why we are here in the first place and by improving ourselves and the World around us (the tikun or fixing process) we can bring the World at large closer to redemption and peace.
Rabbi Asher Baruch Wegbreit – Rabbi Wegbreit shares how even if you are just visiting Eretz Yisroel for work or tourist vacation you can focus your intention that you are “settling the Land” which is a mitzvah in the Torah. Live or visit, vacation or business – the Torah mitzvah still applies. Just a simple thought turns a trip into a mitzvah.
Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowtiz – Shares about the downside of a life focused on physical pleasures as opposed to taking a spiritual direction. The focus on physical pleasures leads to a dulling of spirituality and a reduction in attention span. Society has dramatically moved towards physical pleasures at lightening speed. Growing up in Western society and culture makes seeing this fact as quite difficult and even harder to change it.
Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman – Shares the story about the life of the Ramak and the passing of the baton (so to speak) to the Ari – all in the city of Tsfat.
Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz – Shares in this !Short Clip! video an amazing story about Hagaon Harav Ovadia Yosef and the patience and love he had for another Jew who became a dayan due to the fatherly guidance of the Rav years before.