“It's a sight I’ll never forget! A tremendous earthquake exploded in front of our eyes. Wild fire, thick, black smoke and flying boulders replaced the blue skies and soft breezes this tropical island is renowned for,” remarked the tour guide, as he recalled for us the eventful day of exactly one year ago. “The news…
Parshas Vaeira begins with Hashem revealing Himself to Moshe in a way which was hidden from the Avos. Rashi explains, that at this time Hashem was ready to fulfill His promises to redeem Am Yisroel from Egypt, while they remained only promises at the time of the Avos. Yet, we see that after Moshe finished…
Parents’ number one love is their children. Their concern for them is so overwhelming that it overrides all other interests or needs. At the slightest sign of intended harm, parents will do everything to protect their children. The Midrash Shemos Rabbah 1:1, as it introduces parshas Shemos, brings the posuk, "חושך שבטו שונא בנו ואוהבו…
“This time you brought me a package deal”, the morning Rebbe told the Rosh Yeshiva in an air marked with cynicism and haughtiness, as he summarized the “virtues” of the new student who had arrived only few days earlier to the Yeshiva. The Rosh Yeshiva held himself back, realizing that a quick, defensive reaction would…
In Parshas Mikeitz (41:56) we are told that a great famine fell upon the world. Yaakov saw that there was still food in Mitzrayim (42:1) and sent there all his sons, excluding Binyamin, to bring back food to Yaakov and his family in Eretz Yisroel. When the brothers reached Mitzrayim, they met Yosef. We will…
“Reuven was a ball of fire in class today,” explained the history teacher at the weekly teachers’ meeting. “He just couldn’t sit still.” “At least he wasn’t chutzpadick to you,” said the math teacher. “When I told him to write an assignment on the board he told me that he had better things to do.”…
The story in the Torah where Dina is defiled by Shechem is the classic case of a parent having a negative influence on his/her son/daughter without considering the consequence of his/her action. The posuk reads, "ותצא דינה בת לאה אשר ילדה ליעקב לראות בבנות הארץ" – "And Dina, the daughter of Leah, who was born…
Before a child can effectively tap into his potential in Torah learning and fulfillment, he needs to be guided and supported in his personal character development. Why? For character – middos – development is the control box of man’s Torah study and fulfillment. No matter how developed one’s mind is, if either his potential is…
"I know my son", said a defensive father, trying to explain to the principal his son’s version of a rumble between him and an older boy. "If there’s one thing he doesn’t do, it’s lie!" After thoroughly checking out the incident, the principal saw that the younger child’s version was not fully true. There were…
"Rules are made to be broken", says an old adage. In the context of child education, what does this saying mean? One of the fundamental responsibilities of a teacher and parent is to make rules, give guidelines and offer clear borders to children. This, in order to help each child use his abilities and characteristics…