ב"ה

Tishah B'Av 5766 - August 3, 2006

Was the Holocaust a Punishment from G‑d?

Why can we say that biblical tragedies were punishments, yet contemporary ones are “the mysterious way of G-d”? Have today’s rabbis changed their perception of G-d to fit what’s politically correct?
Parshah
Va’etchanan in a Nutshell
In which Moses implores G‑d, describes the Exodus and the giving of the Torah, predicts Israel’s abandonment and return to G‑d, and summarizes the fundamentals of the Jewish faith.
Story
Kamtza and Bar Kamtza

It happened this way: A certain man had a friend named Kamtza and an enemy called Bar Kamtza. He once made a party and said to his servant, “Go and bring Kamtza” . . .
The Shabbat Man

Some called him Reverend Abrahamson. Others called him Cantor. My father called him Chazzan and bristled at the other names...
One People

Gaza evacuees hosting refugees from the north; a bag of Toronto pastries on the shoulder of Highway 81...
Why Do We Still Mourn?

We have our own state; so why do we still mourn our exile on Tishah B'Av?
Current
Turning Out for a Strategic Meeting of Spiritual Proportions

Besieged Chabad emissaries, who have spent the last three weeks visting bomb shelters in the north of Israel, gather just miles from Lebanese border
"Console, console My people," says your G-d. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her, for she has become full from her host, for her iniquity has been appeased; for she has taken from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins...
— Isaiah 40:1-2 (read on the Shabbat after Tisha B'Av)
Print Magazine

Intellect is inadequate because not all things can be explained. Intellect needs faith.

Faith is impotent because it remains forever obscure. Faith needs intellect.

But they are opposites, as contradictory as yes and no:
Faith accepts; Intellect questions.
Faith surrenders; Intellect struggles.

Miraculously, ther...

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