Torah

There was an old man who would walk along the beach every morning before work. He was walking along the shore early one morning after a big storm had passed, and found the beach littered with starfish. As he continued further down the shore, he suddenly noticed a small boy in the distance who was picking up shells from the shore and gently throwing them into the ocean. As he got closer, he realized that this boy was actually walking amongst the thousands of starfish that had been washed up during the storm. As he came across each starfish, he would gently pick it up and throw it back into the ocean.

Before Adam sinned, he required no clothing (B’reishis 2:25). His physical body radiated light, loyally expressing his angelic soul. Once Adam sinned, however, his physical body lost this spiritual level, no longer fully expressing the or (light) of his inner soul. The pasuk describes how Adam and Chavah suddenly realized their nakedness and became embarrassed, desiring to cover their bodies with clothing (ibid. 3:7). What is the meaning behind their embarrassment, and why was clothing the ideal remedy?

Rav Chaim had been involved with Dirshu for many years. The Sar HaTorah attended quite a few of the large Dirshu gatherings like the Siyumei Hashas in 2012 and 2020 for example, where he even recited the kaddish.

Rabbi Shay Schachter will be joining Yeshiva University as a full-time Torah Studies faculty member on YU’s Beren campus, beginning in this role at the end of August 2022 with the start of the Fall semester.

We all want to share deep and thoughtful ideas at the Seder in order to enhance the experience. I hope this collection of divrei Torah will aid you on your journey towards a meaningful, transformative Seder night.

“Ashreichem!”

That was the enthusiastic way HaGaon HaRav Yisrael Neuman, shlita, Rosh Yeshiva, Beth Medrash Govoha of Lakewood, began his brief address to a massive crowd of some one thousand talmidei chachomim at Dirshu’s testing site in Lakewood last week.