Bar Kamtza and COVID-19

What possibly does COVID-19 have to do with Kamtza and Bar Kamtza? The key to the puzzle is Shalva Zalfreund, of blessed memory, a kindergarten teacher in Petah Tikva, passed away from coronavirus this past Friday, July 17, 2020. Shalva was an amazing teacher who educated several generations of Petah Tikva's children. Before she died, she wrote a letter to the parents of the children in her kindergarten. If you take a close look, the letter should be required reading for all of us, especially during the Three Weeks, a time when we're supposed to feel the lack and loss of our Holy Temple. Here is the letter and its mindboggling message to all of us.

Moshiach and COVID 19

COVID 19, like everything else not only comes from Hashem but is Hashem's emissary to prepare the world for Moshiach and Geula, the redemption of the Jewish People and the ingathering of the exiles to our homeland of Israel. In fact, you could say that COVID 19 is the Minister of Education, teaching people what they should have learned on their own. Today's podcast looks at the lessons COVID 19 is bringing to the world.

Holy Fruit of the Land of Emuna

Maybe a tangerine from the Land of Israel looks like a tangerine from California of Florida, but spiritually, but according to Kabbalah, they are as different as night and day. Today's politically incorrect podcast also explains why a Jew must strive to make aliya and live in the Land of Israel, something that more and more people are contemplating, especially since the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic and the rabid growing tidal wave of anti-Semitism in the West.

Remodeling

So many people nowadays feel short-tempered, or nervous, or worn out, or all three. The lurking threat of sickness and the difficult challenge of lockdown, quarantine and kids at home are eating away at their nerves. If you feel like that, don't be down on yourself, because it's natural and even mentioned in the Gemara. Hear all about it in today's encouraging podcast, which is bound to make you feel better about yourself.

The Geula and Belief in Moshiach

The twelfth of our Thirteen Principles of Emuna requires us all to eagerly anticipate Moshiach. There's no one, religious or not, who doesn't want Moshiach, so where is he? Why has it become so unpopular to talk about Moshiach, to the extent that the rabbinical leaders of our generation are hush on the subject?

Corona Vertigo

Vertigo is a term that jet pilots use to describe spatial disorientation. When a pilot approaches the sound barrier, strange things can occur, especially on a clear-day's flight over water. The pilot is liable to become disoriented and to confuse the blue of the sea with the blue of the sky, and vice versa. Here's the good news: the way a pilot learns to avoid vertigo is the same exact way we can learn to cope in these ever-challenging times.

The Gate of Geula

The Ramcha'l osb"m wrote a Kabbalistic discourse nearly 300 years ago entitled, Ma'amar Hageula, or "Discourse of Geula." There, he brings forth some seemingly cryptic preconditions for the full and final redemption, all of which are happening today before our own eyes, as we hear in today's podcast.

Where's Moshiach?

The twelfth of our Thirteen Principles of Emuna requires us all to eagerly anticipate Moshiach. I don't think that there's anyone, religious or not, who doesn't want Moshiach, so where is he? Why doesn't he come already? A lot of people are talking about Coronavirus as a catalyst for Moshiach, but is there any truth in that? Let's find out...

The Gift of Solitude

Coronavirus has thrown millions of people into solitude. All of a sudden, people are facing a new reality that they've never experienced, which as we learn today, is a gift from Above.

Coronavirus: Softening Stiff Necks

In this week's Torah portion, Moses begs Hashem to forgive the nation of Israel for the sin of the golden calf and says, "please pardon them of their sin, Hashem, for they are a stiff-necked people." (Exodus 34:9)
A stiff neck is the Torah's way of saying stubborn. Like any other character trait, stubbornness can go either way, for good or for evil. Throughout the ages, our righteous people have been so stubborn in their faith that they preferred to endure torture and death in sanctification of Hashem's Name rather than compromise their emuna. On the other hand, the riff-raff of our people have always stubbornly refused to recognize Hashem's monarchy and His Divine Providence, choosing the path of publicly and blatantly trampling the Torah's laws, from the time of Moses to the present.
Hashem is not some old lady in the sky that can do nothing against the Corona Virus, Heaven forbid. The first principle of our emuna is the "He alone did does and will do every deed." The Coronavirus, like all powers of evil, are emissaries of the Almighty and the executioners of stern judgment in the world. But like all powers, they can be harnessed to do good as well. Today's podcast shows the amazing way that the Coronavirus is paving the way to Moshiach...

Save the Children

Today's podcast is all about the nasty "A" word – abortion. What we say here is very politically incorrect with the contemporary liberal norms that turn what the Torah calls abominations into ideology, but I don't care because I'm not running for office and am not trying to garner votes. Hopefully, though, today's podcast will save lives; even if it saves one unborn child, it's more than worth it.
The Gemara in tractate Sanhedrin, page 37a says that anyone who causes the loss of one life is equivalent to someone who has destroyed an entire world. And conversely, anyone who saves one life is equivalent to someone who has saved an entire world...
You too can help save lives - download this podcast - it doesn't cost you a cent - and spread it far and wide. If you need urgent help in a crisis related to contemplating abortion, contact the wonderful people at Efrat. 

Gog and Magog: Postwar Fallout

Are Gog and Magog really dead? Will there be a nuclear war? What about Moshiach, where does he fit in to the current-events news puzzle? What does the Noahide movement have to do with all of this?  Today's podcast looks at what's happening all around us through eyes of emuna and puts contemporary affairs in their proper spiritual perspective.