by Rabbi Ysoscher Katz
Posted on June 24, 2026
Download PDF In this week’s parsha, Parshat Balak, Bilaam says Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov, “How good are your tents, Yaakov.” Rashi, quoting Chazal, says that Bilaam was praising the Jewish people’s tzniut. Whenever I come back to that Rashi, I think of a Chassidic story my rebbe told us when I was about fifteen years old.…
by Rabbi Ysoscher Katz
Posted on June 16, 2026
Download PDF One of my favorite fantastical childhood stories is related to this week’s parsha, parshat Korach. It is an audacious story, and for some of you, no doubt, it may sound a bit out there. But Chassidic stories are often powerful less because of their veracity than because of the religious message they convey.…
by Rabbi Ysoscher Katz
Posted on June 10, 2026
The Ponevezh Yeshivah is one of the largest and most storied yeshivot in Israel. Located in the center of Bnei Brak, it sits on a large and impressive campus spread across a hill. On one end stands the main beit midrash, with room for roughly one thousand students.…
Chatzotzrot: The Sound of Incompleteness
Download PDF In the spirit of this series, Nishmat HaTorah, whose guiding aspiration is to explore the weekly parsha through the lens of Torat HaChassidut, I want to share one of the foundational Chassidic teachings on this week’s parsha. It is enigmatic and, as we will see, theologically daring.…
A Case Study in Compassionate Halakha?
Download PDF Various Sifrei Machshava refer to Torah sh’ba’al Peh, the Oral Torah, as nishmat hatorah, the soul of the Torah. R. Moshe Cordovero, among the foremost Kabbalists of sixteenth-century Tzfat, writes: “One must, with absolute necessity, also study Torah sh’ba’al Peh; it is the interpretation of the Torah, and also its neshamah, revealing its spiritual essence through its explanations and secrets.”…
Sefer Bamidbar: Their Story and Ours
Download PDF We are starting a new Sefer this week, switching from Sefer Vayikra, the third book in the Pentateuch, to the fourth, Sefer Bamidbar. And that is of great theological significance. The five books of the Torah chart the unfolding story of klal Yisroel’s relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu (“HKBH”), with each sefer marking a new stage in that relationship.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 1, 2024
כָּל־דָּבָ֞ר אֲשֶׁר־יָבֹ֣א בָאֵ֗שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֤ירוּ בָאֵשׁ֙ וְטָהֵ֔ר אַ֕ךְ בְּמֵ֥י נִדָּ֖ה יִתְחַטָּ֑א וְכֹ֨ל אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־יָבֹ֛א בָּאֵ֖שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֥ירוּ בַמָּֽיִם “Every thing that can withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of sprinkling; and all that can not withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water” (Bamidbar 31:23).…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 1, 2024
Traducido por Balbino Cotarelo Núñez To read this post in English, click here כָּל־דָּבָ֞ר אֲשֶׁר־יָבֹ֣א בָאֵ֗שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֤ירוּ בָאֵשׁ֙ וְטָהֵ֔ר אַ֕ךְ בְּמֵ֥י נִדָּ֖ה יִתְחַטָּ֑א וְכֹ֨ל אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־יָבֹ֛א בָּאֵ֖שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֥ירוּ בַמָּֽיִם Todo objeto que resiste el fuego, por fuego lo haréis pasar, y será tahór, luego lo sumergirás en las aguas de purificación; y todo lo que no resiste el fuego lo pasarás dentro del agua.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 1, 2024
תורגם על ידי אילה סינקלר To read this post in English, click here כָּל־דָּבָ֞ר אֲשֶׁר־יָבֹ֣א בָאֵ֗שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֤ירוּ בָאֵשׁ֙ וְטָהֵ֔ר אַ֕ךְ בְּמֵ֥י נִדָּ֖ה יִתְחַטָּ֑א וְכֹ֨ל אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא־יָבֹ֛א בָּאֵ֖שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֥ירוּ בַמָּֽיִם(במדבר לא כג) השאלה לקוחה מקבוצת הוואטסאפ של שו”תים בה הרב לינדזר מגיב לרבנים וחברי קהילה.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 1, 2024
Traduit par Rabbi Émile Ackermann To read this post in English, click here כָּל-דָּבָ֞ר אֲשֶׁר-יָבֹ֣א בָאֵ֗שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֤ירוּ בָאֵשׁ֙ וְטָהֵ֔ר אַ֕ךְ נִדָּ֖ה יִתְחַטָּ֑א וְכֹ֨ל אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹֽא-יָבֹ֛א בָּאֵ֖שׁ תַּֽעֲבִ֥ירוּ בַמָּֽיִם tout ce qui supporte le feu, vous le passerez par le feu et il sera pur, après toutefois avoir été purifié par l’eau lustrale; et tout ce qui ne va pas au feu, vous le passerez par l’eau.…
by Rabbanit Myriam Ackermann-Sommer
Posted on August 1, 2024
This week, Parashat Matot-Masei famously introduces us to the figure of the woman who makes vows and specifies the patriarchal restrictions that apply to these vows. It is immediately clear that these restrictions are themselves limited. They are the prerogative of the woman’s father when she is a minor and of her husband after she gets engaged. …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 25, 2024
לָאֵ֗לֶּה תֵּֽחָלֵ֥ק הָאָ֛רֶץ בְּנַֽחֲלָ֖ה בְּמִסְפַּ֥ר שֵׁמֽוֹת “Unto these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names” (Bamidbar 26:53). This question is taken from a WhatsApp group in which Rabbi Linzer responds to halakhic questions from rabbis and community members.…
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