Holidays and Fast Days

When you light the Chanukah candles, you can bring down salvations. The days of Chanukah are particularly special to be healed above nature, for barren women to conceive, success and creating lots of light!

“I printed up instructions for how to light the candles, where to place them. We celebrated with an awkward tension. How do we do this? We have no cultural references.”

How do you describe the simple pleasure of celebrating Chanukah in a place where everyone is also rushing home to light their menorah? Our holiday, our land…

The Gemara tells the moving story of Chana and her seven sons, who preferred martyrdom rather than cowering to the Greeks and the Hellenists...

Holocaust Remembrance Day is 18-April. It's so difficult to see suffering! How can we look "through it" to see the greater good that will be born from it?

My girlfriend told that one of the hardest things about being raised by Holocaust survivors was that nothing she ever went through evoked much sympathy…

HOLOCAUST DAY is 21-Apr. If the guard was especially cruel, he won a visit to the camp brothel, made up of women inmates who were given more food...

There are hero stories and there are "Kiddush Hashem" stories, but the unprecedented true story of Major General Sidney Shachnow, ob"m, combines both and tops them all…

Why is it such a big deal to go to Meron on Lag b'Omer? Why is it important to rejoice with the tzaddik?

We do not forget for even a moment the great disaster that took place on Lag B’Omer 2021. The first step towards the tikkun of man is the tikkun of speech. He who corrects his speech can correct all his character traits.

Often, what unites us is tragedy or some communal difficulty. The main way of showing love and building love during those times is praying for each one of our people!

Let us not forget the lessons from the terrible tragedy in Meron, 2021. Now is the time to renew our commitment to fix the sin for which the Temple was destroyed - baseless hatred.

Read a riveting and inspiring story of one woman's efforts to obtain forgiveness for her childhood wrongs...

Do you feel stuck in a rut? Are you waiting for something to give you a push forward? David Ben Horin gives great advice that will even help us prepare for the new year...now!

Who doesn’t enjoy a decadent dessert? If we’re honest, we don’t get nearly as much pleasure from our learning or mitzvot. How can we change that?

Freelancing is a lesson in humility with zero expectations. But the upside potential is also that much more. If only we could freelance with God…

Passover cleaning, kids, crumbs everywhere, pressure...IIEEEE! How do we properly deal with our children when we are under the pressure of Passover cleaning?

Nissan is a month when we can surprise ourselves by our ability to grow our happiness and emuna for the entire year! Rabbi Arush explains how...

Pesach, the holiday when Jews eat only unleavened bread, commemorates the exodus from Egypt. The dietary restrictions can be challenging. Here are easy-to-make recipes with minimum preparation time.

The same function can be the greatest mitzvah or the worst transgression, an elixir of life if one is deserving or an elixir of death if he is undeserving...

Passover cleaning, kids, crumbs everywhere, pressure...IIEEEE! How do we properly deal with our children when we are under the pressure of Passover cleaning?

It seems that everyone is facing deep anxieties during these days of tremendous upheaval. Whether one lives in Eretz Yisrael or abroad, the turmoil grows from day to day. How does one deal with this? Rabbi Arush’s advice is not just for Purim...

Although Purim is past, our private war with Amalek continues unabated. What timeless messages can we learn from Mordecai and our tzaddikim to help us win the war?

Would you like to drink all the wine you want on Purim without suffering so much as a headache? No drunkenness, only joy! Rav Shalom Arush says this prayer:

What gift can we give to our King, Hashem, when everything is His?  When we strengthen the emuna in another’s soul to make him an appropriate vessel to accept Hashem's sovereignty, this is considered truly a gift for Hashem.

Your prayers and your teshuva are precious to our Father in heaven! Yes, YOURS!! Do not think that you are “too far gone” to be able to turn your life around, or that your teshuva would not be accepted. Read the Kalever Rebbe’s inspirational encouragement... 

Teshuva is not just for Rosh Hashanah! Rebbe Nachman emphasizes daily hitbodedut (personal prayer) because one's entire teshuva depends on self-examination. Following the tzaddik and being connected to him means doing daily hitbodedut and teshuva.  

We are entering the Yamim Nora’im, The Days of Awe. We are now like full-grown wheat that is ready for harvest. Our job is to remove the chaff within ourselves and, through a teshuva process, become like fine flour. 

Acquiring the Torah is a daily task, not a one-time event. We will count 50 days from Pesach to Shavuot to refine our middot, but the work never ends. That's what is so beautiful about life. One is always moving forward, improving oneself, discovering new things.

During these days before Shavuot, we count each day toward personal growth. The change that we make in ourselves depends on the small, “unimportant” steps that we make each day. How can we avoid discouragement when we don’t see results from one day to another?  

In life we have to count. When we want something, we wait and count, we set goals and count. Counting is a part of life.

As I stood near the gravesites, the stunning view of Jerusalem from the silent, sun-bleached peak of the Mount of Olives caught my breath; the indescribable holiness…

We all want our prayers to be accepted by Hashem. We want to be counted among those who fear and love Him. We want to develop good middot, holiness, and purity. One prerequisite will bring all of these... 

It's not enough to continually ask, “When will Mashiach come”. Working on one’s emuna and and spreading it with family and friends  – that is  looking forward to the geula, and that is what brings Mashiach!

In the final days before Shavuot, let's internalize the unique purpose of a Jew's life. When we accepted Torah on Mount Sinai and became Hashem's people, we were set aside from the other nations.

Oh no, we have less than a week until Shavuot! I need to get my grocery list ready for major shopping. What kind of dairy course should I serve? I absolutely must find a new outfit... WAIT!! Rabbi Arush explains that the REAL preparation is in the heart. Also read about Rabbi Palagi's segula for Erev Shavuot.

What a powerful message! A Hollywood A-lister and social progressive who promotes everything that is destroying the world, conceded that natural disasters occur because Hashem is angry with us.

David tells it like it is - what exactly is the endgame of lust???

Celebrate New Years now? Yes! We have an amazing opportunity to renew our spiritual lives during this period.

What's the connection among Parashat Beshalach, Parshat Shirah, Tu B'Shvat, and Shovavim? RENEWAL! We are in a time of renewal for trees and for every Jew.

It has been nearly eighty years since the U.N. was founded to usher in an era of peace. Yet, the world is still consumed with conflict. What is stopping the long-awaited world peace? How can the mitzvah of Sukkot help?   

“You shall dwell in booths for a seven-day period so that your generations will know that I caused the Children of Israel to dwell in booths when I took them."

Sukkot and Simchat Torah prepared us to fight our inner spiritual battles with confidence of success. The Kalever Rebbe shows us our secret weapon ...

From Rosh Chodesh Elul until Yom Kippur we all become so forgiving to everyone. But what happens the day after? That’s when we have to restart, once again…

The root cause of Tisha B’Av still haunts us today, and not just during the Three Weeks! Am Yisrael, individually and collectively, is going through tremendous suffering – why? And what can each of us do to end our suffering once and for all? 

How is it possible to feel the loss of the Beit Hamikdash when we were never there? What impact will the Temple have on our lives? Read Rabbi Arush’s amazing answer!

In these times, when it is harder for everyone to make a living, let's pay more attention to our friends: listen to them, encourage them, be considerate. Give more tzedaka and help. Read an unbelievable, true story of such a person...

As we progress through the three weeks of mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temple and our extended exile, let’s remember that the cause is baseless hatred. This can only be remedied by fostering love of Yisrael, both within ourselves and others.

Celebrate New Years now? Yes! We have an amazing opportunity to renew our spiritual lives during this period.

What's the connection among Parashat Beshalach, Parshat Shirah, Tu B'Shvat, and Shovavim? RENEWAL! We are in a time of renewal for trees and for every Jew.

Can the modern man, armed with the latest generation of smartphone, connected to the internet and to hi-tech, relate to an arbor birthday or learn something from a humble tree?

A man is like a tree, and the most important thing is - water! Also find out why do we need to judge the trees at all?

Is there any significance that Israeli Independence Day is on 5-Iyar? YES, says the Vilna Gaon! This date is  closely tied to Mashiach and the Final Redemption. Let's not pass up this golden opportunity to pray especially hard for both!

Here is a three-part series of personal stories by those who lived in Israel during those days. Stories of emuna, bitachon, and wonderful achdut (brotherhood).

Gideon Lichtman taught under the assumed name of "Rimon" after Israeli President Ezer Weizman warned him that he could be a target for Arab assassination…

Ben wanted to be one of those guys, but he knew that he had little chance of being accepted to Golani. He was out of shape and almost 90 pounds overweight…

The words of Israel's sages and leaders in each generation come directly from God. They are given the ability to know exactly what they need to say to every Jew they meet.  Is it difficult to blindly heed the advice of a rabbi? Read on... 

Your prayers and your teshuva are precious to our Father in heaven! Yes, YOURS!! Do not think that you are “too far gone” to be able to turn your life around, or that your teshuva would not be accepted. Read the Kalever Rebbe’s inspirational encouragement... 

Tired of facing another Yom Kippur of asking forgiveness for the same offenses that you’ve mentioned year after year? Read Rabbi Arush’s advice about how to make this Yom Kippur different! 

You might think that the Day of Atonement should be terrifying, begging for mercy at the feet of the King of Kings. But it is actually a day of love! A MUST READ!

  Hashem says: "I will not build Jerusalem, the Holy City, in Heaven until I build Jerusalem on earth." Watch a beautiful video by Rabbanit Arush.

28-Iyar: Yom Yerushalayim: I put my hand on the stones but the tears that flowed were not mine. They were the tears of all Israel, tears that scorched and burned the heavy gray stone. A MUST READ!!

Why are we once more faced with the threat of losing parts of Jerusalem, Heaven forbid? Each Jew has a share in Jerusalem, the heart and focal point of our people…

Once the physical gate to Jerusalem, Chut shel Chessed now has turned the Mandelbaum Gate into the spiritual gate to Jerusalem!