Torah

The summer season always brings a special atmosphere, especially for kids—camp, swimming, and exciting outdoor activities. But it also brings challenges, such as the heat. For women, maintaining tznius; for men, dressing appropriately for tefilah, wearing tzitzis, and guarding what they see.

The human mind possesses the powerful ability to create order and meaning from disorder and chaos. We find patterns in scattered texts, correlations in scrambled data, and harmony in individually meaningless pieces of information. Applying this ability to spiritual wisdom allows one to enter the gateway into the infinite, gaining access to the deepest and most powerful truths of existence.

When you wake up in the morning, how do you start your day? Many people immediately take out their phones, look at their messages, and are bombarded by a rush of incoming data. But in doing so, we begin our day in a reactive state, allowing external stimuli to become the foundation of our day. With that starting point, it is all too easy for the entire day to become one long reactive experience.

We have all just heard the news of the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Baruch Hashem! While the full extent of the damage is not yet known, the fact that it happened—and certainly caused extensive damage—is terrific! When all elements of an operation work together perfectly, it’s nothing short of miraculous.

Based on shiurim by Rav Yisrael Altusky, shlita – Yeshiva Torah Ore, Yerushalayim

 I’m writing this article on Motzaei Shabbos Parshas Korach, one week after hearing the news about the U.S. bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities. I happened to wake up at 5 a.m., looked at my phone, and saw three alerts (not sirens) for incoming missiles. I turned on the radio and heard about the attack. I couldn’t fall back asleep—not sure why—and ended up davening early. Who would’ve thought that one week later there would be a ceasefire, the airport would open up, and everything would return to normal?

Each individual has their own perception of reality, their own view on religion, and their own ideas about leadership. Every religion as well has its own perceptions and views on these topics, and just as a person’s views serve as a gateway into understanding their inner beliefs and values, a religion’s views serve as a window into its inner beliefs and value system.