Tallit Stories

“When a communist gives you a tallit, you should not be in a hurry to discard it.”

It was obvious to Yerachmiel that if he made the slightest movement, his attacker might shoot out of sheer nervousness.

After all, what could he teach a girl who got straight A’s in school and wanted to go to an Ivy League college? And yet, today, what I remember from college seems like a blur of intellectual trivia compared to the simple lessons of my father . . .

I’m not talking about a small fine, or even some lashes. This could mean that my father, and maybe even I, would sit in a dark and dingy jail cell. A wave of heat overcame my body.

What was bothering Korach? Do G‑d’s commandments make sense? What is a dispute that is for the sake of Heaven?