By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — After the plague of Hail, Paroah summoned Moshe and Aaron to his palace and proclaimed “Hashem (G-d) is righteous.” (Ex.9:27). What made him say this? He never said anything like this before. One Rabbinic opinion states that he was reacting to Hashem’s warning “Send forth, gather in your [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Yaakov gathered his sons around and asked them if they would be true bearers of the faith. His son’s answered in unison, “ShmaYisroel Hashem E-lo-keinu Hashem Echad.” “Here, O Israel, The L-rd our G-d, Hashem, the One and Only.” (Yaakov was alsoknown as Israel). This moved Yaakov and he [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Yosef and all his brothers had a lot of conflict, but in the end, they were a family and truly loved one another, in addition to sharing a tremendous reverence for their father. Overcoming family friction and honoring parents makes everyone’s life better and richer as the following [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –There are two ways which our enemies seek to destroy us. The first is physical. The second spiritual. Purim is the annual celebration of our physical survival. Hanukkah is the annual celebration of our spiritual survival over the many who would have liked to destroy us through cultural assimilation. [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman 1. This year, the first night of Chanukah is Saturday December 8, 2012, at which time we will light one Chanukah light plus the shamash. The second night we light 2 lights plus a shamash. The third night we light 3 lights plus a shamash, and so on and so forth. 2. [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –Yaakov dwelt for years with the wicked Lavan. Nevertheless, he did not diminish his stringent mitzvah observance (vis. Rashi: Im Lavan garti, v;taryag mitzvos shamarti). A mitzvah is a precious gift for us to cherish always, wherever we are, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, as the following true story [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO– In 1991, our three month old son Shlomo Moshe Lederman returned his soul to his creator. While we were sitting shiva, a number of people offered words of consolation. I found these words very inspiring. I wrote them down in a notebook (not a laptop, an actual paper notebook) [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — When Yaakov was garbed in Esav’s clothing, he was still polite and respectful of his father. He was still Yaakov inside. His goodness could not be suppressed. The goodness of tzadikim (the righteous) still shines even in the most incongruous situations, as the following true story illustrates: November [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO–The Slonimer Rebbe, of blessed memory, asked: On Friday night when we sit down to our Shabbos meal the first thing we do is welcome the Angels into our home. ‘Shalom Aleichem! Malachei HaShareis.’ We recite ‘Peace unto you, oh ministering angels.’ Hashem (G-d) sends the holiest guests to our [...]
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — When we think of Avodas Hashem (Service of G-d) it pays to think of it as we would think of a business, as the following story illustrates: One day, at a top-level meeting of a successful corporation: “Please bring me the test results of the new personnel. I [...]