Lessons from T-Shirts
Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv (the Alter of Kelm) is quoted as saying that the whole world is a house of Mussar (ethical instruction) and that each person is a mussar sefer (book). If we look around there...
View ArticleYou’re the Inspiration…
My oldest child recently turned 4 years old. I’ve been thinking about her growth in life, and my own growth in observance. And this refrain from a Chicago song kept repeating in my head: You’re the...
View ArticleFocused Inspiration
Esti recently commented on the Uninspired post. (Shout out to Shayna, we miss you.) Just thought I’d comment on your great post. I watched the women’s Inspired video and was mesmerized. But I admit...
View ArticleWhat the Ba’alei Teshuva Do for Us
By Jonathan Rosenblum Jewish Media Resources The theme of this year’s annual convention of Agudath Israel of America is the necessity to “Wake the Sleeping Giant” by involving all members of the Torah...
View ArticleInspiration in Everyday Life
When I was a Yeshivah student, one of the rabbis brought us to a meeting with Rav Shlomo Wolbe. A question was raised in that meeting by a married student, which I didn’t really grasp. “How can someone...
View ArticleWriting an Inspirational Story
By William Kolbrener – First Published at OpenMindedTorah.blogspot.com I re-connected with an old friend last week. We had been in high school together (though not in the same class), and when a mutual...
View ArticleSeizing the Moment in Time of Crisis
Rabbi Yakov Haber I would like to share two “war stories”. The first concerns a Yeshiva catering to Anglo students studying for their “year in Israel”. There’s an organization called “Grandma’s...
View ArticleA Cure for Troubled Times
A Teenage Beyond BT Fan As we all know the world that we live in has gone out of control. To start with, the recession we are in now is just terrible. Thousands of people have been laid off this past...
View ArticleMind Your Step
Looking on the bright side, I’m fortunate to have made through nearly half a century of life without breaking a bone. I’m fortunate to be in good enough physical condition to hold my own on the...
View ArticleEmbracing my Own Intrepid Spirit
By Varda Branfman Varda blogs at http://writingforhealing.blogspot.com/ Where I walk The angels fear to tread At three a.m. I’m alone On East 2nd Avenue While junkies climb The fire escapes I pull...
View ArticleWhat mourning taught me
My father A”H passed away in early June. It wasn’t sudden-sudden, but it was sudden enough. He wasn’t young, but he was certainly not old enough. We loved him and we let him know it, and that we were...
View ArticleFeeling Inspired is a Means, Not an Ends
By Yakov Spil I heard a story last week that touched me and helped clarify an aspect of our avodas Hashem. The maaseh occured in the days when Rav Yechezkel Levenstein zl was the Mashgiach of Ponovezh....
View ArticleNCSY and the Sweet Sounds of Gratitude
It always happens to me during mussaf of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. On a good morning it will hit me during Hallel. On a recent Shabbos, I thought about it while an excellent baal tefillah was...
View ArticleThe Limits of Inspiration
One of the most popular articles in the last Klal Perspectives Issue, focused on the crisis of spiritual connection in the American Orthodox Community, was Rabbi Moshe Weinberger’s titled “Just One...
View ArticleWe’re All Broken Vessels – The 17th of Tammuz
Based on a lecture By Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller which can be found here. The first major tragedy in history was when Adam ate the fruit and internalized confusion. Prior to that sin, confusion was...
View ArticleFrom the Waters of the Shiloah – Plumbing the Depths of the Izhbitzer School
Many veteran Chozrim B’Tshuva grapple with the problem of “plateauing”. The epiphanies and ecstasies of our journeys beginnings become ever-fading memories nearly lost in the mists of time. We yearn...
View ArticleRabbi Zev Cohen Sets the Torah Mesorah Convention on Fire
I had the pleasure of spending May 8th through 11th at the Torah Mesorah Convention at the Split Rock Resort in the Poconos. I get to spend most of the time talking to Mechanchim/Mechanchos (teachers)...
View ArticleINSPIRATZON – the Process of Transforming Inspiration into Willpower
By Aryeh Goldman who writes at hitoreri.com The function of inspiration is to give us an insight into whom we are and offer us an opportunity to realign ourselves with our inner purpose. However, when...
View ArticleA Member of the Tribe
By Rabbi Shmuel Simenowitz Before my family moved to Baltimore, I spent a great deal of time traveling internationally as a scholar in residence, speaking primarily on the topic of sustainability as...
View ArticleAish Appreciation
One of the foundations of spiritual growth is connecting to Hashem through appreciating all that He does for us on a regular basis. Another foundation of spiritual growth is connecting to people...
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