Torah Learning with Ari

The Moon and the war – part two

By Ari Goldwag | January 15, 2009

As I was reading the article mentioned in the previous post about the moon, I wondered what the significance is to the phenomenon that the tides and waves are caused by the moon’s gravity. What could the message behind this be? I was נתעורר to some interesting thoughts when I saw a piece from the…

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The siren's message

By Ari Goldwag | January 14, 2009

At about one PM today, we here in Ramat Bet Shemesh heard the sound that has become normal for the residents of the south. My four year old daughter and her nursery class were all guided to crouch under their desks, and were told they would receive a candy. They davened together with their Morah.…

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The Moon and the war

By Ari Goldwag | January 14, 2009

החודש הזה לכם, ראש חדשים – This [lunar] month is for you, first of the months. These were the words that Hashem said to Moshe, giving the Jewish people its first national mitzvah. Henceforth, the Moon would represent us, having no light of its own, reflecting the light of the Sun. We, the Jewish people,…

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Great Hilchos Shabbos Video

By Ari Goldwag | January 13, 2009

This is one of the best Torah videos I have seen. Featured on it are Rav Shimon Isaacson and Rav Edo Lavi, both wonderful members of the Ramat Bet Shemesh community. You can find more great Torah videos like this on http://www.naaleh.com

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Shavuos and Moshe

By Ari Goldwag | January 13, 2009

The passuk tells us that Moshe was born, and Yocheved hid him for three months. The Gemara says that she gave birth three months before the Egyptians guessed, because she had gotten pregnant three months before she had gotten remarried to Amram, when was before she had received her divorce from him. The Egyptians counted…

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Leadership qualities

By Ari Goldwag | January 12, 2009

I’m currently reading an amazing book by Stephen Covey, entitled “The Eighth Habit.” I have found this book, as well as his bestselling “Seven Habits” book to be very insightful and relevant. I am amazed at how much of what he writes is actually based on very lofty concepts taught in sifrei machshava, but the…

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Kindergarten Dreams

By Ari Goldwag | January 12, 2009

Our sages tell us that since we no loner have Nevi’im, prophecy was given to fools and children. Towards the beginning of the current Gaza war, my four year old daughter woke in the morning and told us her dream. She said that in her dream, the bad men were trying to take away the…

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Nefesh Hachaim

By Ari Goldwag | January 11, 2009

I have now begun a new book in my Daily Kabbalah Lesson. Episode 101 starts Nefesh Hachaim. This book contains fundamental and core issues that will change the way you think about your relationship with Hashem and Torah.

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Feeling their pain

By Ari Goldwag | January 10, 2009

I heard a few interesting stories and thoughts over Shabbos. The one that I got the most from was told by the Rav of my shul. This past week, a couple in Jerusalem came to him with the following scenario. The husband had decided to get his wife something special for her birthday recently. He…

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Yosef and the wealth of redemption

By Ari Goldwag | January 9, 2009

My wife recently read the book “Let My Nation Descend” by Yosef Deutsch, which details the account of the sale of Yosef, culminating with the young nation of Israel journeying to Egypt. She shared a remarkable part of the story with me that I thought was both interesting and thought provoking. On page 214, he…

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