Parshas Ki Sisa
7 maamarim of the tzaddikim on this week's reading, each in Hebrew and English with a takeaway.
Lehavas David
Rav Dovid Matisyohu Rabinowitz ›Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzThe True Leader Lives Only for OthersThe Torah calls counting Israel “lifting the head,” and the one fit to be a head lives for others, like Mordechai, whose greatness was “for the Jews,” and like the rain, which…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzHalf a Shekel: Unity That Brings the ShechinahHashem does not need our money; what He wants from our giving together is the closeness it creates among us. When people pour their hearts into one shared work they grow close…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzShabbos Rest for the Soul, Not the BodyShabbos is not mainly a day off from work; it is the soul's return to its root and its closeness to Hashem, and even one whose week held no hard labor is commanded to rest. The…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzPreparing All Week to Make the ShabbosShabbos is like the soul of all creation, and like everything spiritual it needs great preparation. “Six days work shall be done” and “to make the Shabbos” ask us to spend the…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzWhy Your Anger? The Power of TeshuvahMoshe's plea teaches that no sin is too great for teshuvah: a Jew's soul is a portion of God from Above, and sin is only a garment over it that can be removed. The generation that…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzTeshuvah before Torah: The Bride's GiftThe Torah is given to us like a bride to her groom, and just as a groom and bride do teshuvah before their wedding, we must open at least a small opening of teshuvah before we…Lehavas David · Rav Dovid Matisyohu RabinowitzFilling the Void: Writing a Sefer Torah NowWhen a Jew is lost to the world, a void is left, as it were, and the Torah's answer is more Torah: a new Sefer Torah brought into the world. The Torah places this mitzvah right…