In Every Generation

The Passover Seder night is not an evening of reminiscing about what happen to our nation 3,336 years ago. Like everything else that's Divinely inspired, it's timeless. The Haggadah is about us - today - and much more relevant than the daily news. Our future is where our past is; without our past, we can't make sense of the present.

The Power of Unity

Israel celebrates the heroic and miraculous mission in Gaza that led to the release of captured IDF Pvt. Ori Megiddish last night. The success of the mission is result of the marvelous cooperation bewteen Israel's military and secret services. In addition to the power of unity, we also learn the power of another mitzvah, the challah offering. This was a mitzva that Ori's mother, family and friends performed on the day before the previous Shabbat.

A Second Chance

A flat tire is definitely not the end of the race. You can change it! Rebbe Nachman of Breslev says that if you believe you can ruin something, then believe that you can rectify it. This is not just a pleasant expression, but a signed promise in the Torah and a fact of life. The second chance we all get is a much more effective way to beautify and overhaul ourselves than plastic surgery, and a whole lot cheaper...

Dove-Pure Love

True love is a bond of emuna, an unbreakable lasting connection between two souls. Whereas infatuation is bodily and physical, true love and friendship are spiritual. We learn all about building a successful marital relationship from the dove...

Paying Back a Favor

How do I repay a person who helped me strengthen my faith and make me happier?  What's it worth, a million dollars? A billion dollars? There's a big difference between paying back a material favor and paying back a spiritual favor. This time of year is especially conducive to pondering the spiritual side of our lives...

It’s All Emuna

Filmed in the Shoreshim Outreach Center in Mexico City, this enjoyable 10-minute clip is in both English and Spanish. We learn here about King David's intention when he said, "All Your mitzvoth are emuna."

Every Day Happy

Imagine that every gift in life that we take for granted would disappear. How miserable we'd be! Shouldn't we rejoice when we do enjoy all of life's gifts, especially the spiritual ones?

Get it Right!

Fitness trainers have an expression: “Get it right!” Any exercise, from simple breathing to the most complex routine, must be done in the best possible form to ensure optimal performance, gain and benefit to the body. Just as doing exercise is a workout for the body, doing mitzvas is a workout for the soul, making the soul strong and healthy. In that respect, good spiritual form is important for fulfilling a mitzva, so when it comes to observing the Torah, we have to "get it right" too.

My Name is Bailie, not Bilky

Nicknames are dangerous. Our name is by far one of our most important assets and determines so much in our life, as we'll learn today.

Love, According to Halacha

Our sages tell us that we don't have to learn how to hate - that comes natural to a person because of innate egotism. Loving someone else, on the other hand, is something we all must learn to insure our emotional and physical health.

Shipwreck

The Ben Ish Chai tells a story about two Jewish merchants from Turkey who were aboard a ship in the Mediterranean. A terrible storm hit the ship at sea and wrecked it. The ship's crew scrambled to the life boats, but the two Jews, Reuven and Shimon, were left behind. This poignant story helps us in our preparation for Passover, and for life.

The Mitzvoth of the Land of Israel

Emuna Beams is delighted to host one of the world's foremost experts on the mitzvoth of the Land of Israel, Rabbi Moshe Bunim Mintz shlit'a, head of the Halichot Ha'aretz rabbinical seminary in Israel. In the course of the lesson, which we hope will be the first of a series, we also learn the importance of living in the Land of Israel. The lesson is in Hebrew, with English translation by Rabbi Lazer Brody. 38 minutes.