qChabad

MM-chayei-sarah MM-Toldos-3 wells Vayishlach Va’erah – Moshe’s words to Pharaoh only made the Jews work harder, why?!

NEW AT QUEENS COLLEGE FALL 2011! For more info & to apply, visit SinaiScholars.com.

The very term “kosher wine” used to conjure up the image of a Manischewitz bottle, containing syrupy, sweet wine.  That has drastically changed, and now kosher wines occupy a significant portion of the wine market, some even winning awards.  In addition to the great kosher wines produced in America, others can be found hailing from [...]

There is a common Jewish custom, that on Shabbat afternoons, between Passover and Shavuot, one studies a chapter of Ethics of Our Fathers. This Tractate of the Mishna contains succinct, ethical teaches from the most venerable sages. There are six Shabbats between the two holidays, and six chapters in Ethics, so it works out perfectly. [...]

In my backyard, I have an Italian fig tree, a gift from my friend Stu. The leaves are just now beginning to grow, and that makes me in a good mood. My father helped plant it, and I have tended to it carefully for years. The Torah instructs that one cannot eat fruit borne in the first three [...]

The opponents of the Chassidic movement once asked the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, what he had accomplished with his new path in Divine service.  After all, they – the misnagdim – do not learn Chassidus, but they serve G-d. The Alter Rebbe responded that the very same question had been posed to [...]

One Pesach, it seemed to the Chassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, that he had performed the Seder with all the proper intentions. It was later revealed to him from On High that he should not be so proud of his Seder, for in the very same town there was a Jew named Chaim, who made [...]

With Passover nearly upon us, it is of course apropos to reflect on the holiday.  As soon as the holiday begins, we begin our seder.  Wine, the green karpas, breaking the middle matzah, eating the bitter herbs, and of course discussion about the Four Sons. When studying the text of the Four Sons in the [...]

Shalom Aleichem! What would be the first thing you would do if you were a slave set free? Well, this week’s New York area news featured coverage of the alleged escape of a poisonous Egyptian Cobra from the Bronx Zoo. Zoo officials maintained that the cobra was certainly still somewhere in the zoo, and not [...]

“Many are the thoughts in the heart of man, but it is the counsel of the Lord that endures” (Proverbs 19:21).  With this preface, the old rabbi from Alexander began his story about the Maggid of Mezritch, Reb Dov Ber: Amongst those who spent a lot of quality time with the Maggid, was one particular [...]