OPINION & COMMENT

Universal Conversion Standards — Good for Everyone Concerned

Everyone knows the story about a boat that illustrates how the actions of an individual can affect everyone. Even though one is drilling a hole that is entirely under his own seat, the water that he lets in will eventually sink the entire ship. If the structural integrity of a boat is compromised, it will sink everyone riding in it.

The Level of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai
by HaRav Yitzchok Hutner zt'l
Delivered at the Mesibas Chasal Siddur Pesach, 5729

"And bnei Yisroel ate the mon for forty years until they came to a habitable land; they ate the mon until they came to the edge of the land of Canaan" (Shemos 16:35). This posuk seems to contain a contradiction, for it mentions two different places that bnei Yisroel stopped eating mon.

Meaningful Prayer
by Dovid Leitner

Adon Olom was authored and added to our Siddur by Rabbi Yochonon Ben Zachai, who lived some five hundred years after the founding of the Jewish Community in Worms. [Editor's Note: Many say that it was written in the 11th century by R' Shlomo Ibn Gabirol.]

Preparation for Mattan Torah Through the Forty-Eight Acquisitions (Kinyan Torah)
by HaRav Matisyohu Salomon

The forty-eight ways to acquire Torah are enumerated in the sixth chapter of Pirkei Ovos, that is sometimes called Kinyan Torah. Even though several reasons are stated, it is worthwhile reviewing the thoughts of the Chossid Yaavetz as quoted in Midrash Shmuel as follows:

Politica: Budding Rebellion
By Betzalel Kahn