The olive tree teaches us about resilience. It's incredibly tough - we see this in the story of Noach, when the dove brought back an olive leaf. That tree survived the mabul. The message? So will we. Olive oil doesn't mix with water. No matter what, it rises to the top. That's us as a nation - we don't blend in, we don't dissolve. We stay distinct, we rise. The gemara says: "Five things cause one to forget their learning... one who regularly eats olives... Five things restore one's learning... regularly consuming olive oil."  R' Yochanan: "Just as olives cause one to lose seventy years of learning, so olive oil restores seventy years of learning." The Maharsha on this gemara explains that's why the Torah says "shemen zayis" (olive oil) in the sheva minim instead of just "zayis" (olives) - because olives themselves are problematic for memory, but the oil is beneficial.  The halacha says you must add olive oil t...

Unlike other fruits that ripen all at once, figs ripen slowly. It is very hard to find a fig without bugs, it is better to look at one and focus on patience, understanding tnzinut and pnimiyut of life  Each one matures on its own schedule, slowly, privately. You can't rush them. And when you finally find one that's ready - perfectly ripe, bug-free - it feels like a small miracle you had to wait for. The Gemara tells us that figs symbolize Torah itself. Just like you check a fig tree daily to find which fruits are ready, we return to Torah again and again, finding new understanding each time we're ready to receive it. Figs grow hidden beneath broad leaves - tzniut by nature. They don't announce themselves. Their sweetness develops in private, away from everyone's eyes. This is pnimiyut - the inner work that happens when no one's watching. The spiritual growth that takes time, patience, and cannot be rushed or performed for an audience.  The fig reminds remin u...

Grapes in the Sheva Minim Grapes - ג.פ.נ. Gezunt. Parnasa. Nachas. And grapes give us wine. Wine is simcha. Wine is ruchnius. Wine is roga - calm, tranquility. You can have your health, your parnasa, your nachas - but without simcha? You're missing the ruchnius and the roga that makes it all matter. No matter where life takes you, experience it with simcha. הרב מנחם דוברוסקין הרב ינון קלזאן  הרב יעקב מאור Photo by Roberta Sorge on Unsplash

  Barley is mostly used as animal feed. Of all the sheva minim, it's the one that feeds animals. The Tanya teaches about the nefesh habehamit – our animal soul. The part of us that's driven by physical desires and earthly needs. Barley teaches us: even the animal part of us needs to be uplifted. We're not here to ignore our animal soul or fight it. We're here to learn how to use it to serve H'shem. The physical drives, the earthly energy – it can all be channeled. Transformed. Elevated. When you eat with intention, rest with purpose, work with focus – you're taking the animal and lifting it up. Let us learn how to use your animal soul and uplift it to serve H'shem? Photo by Mohamed Fsili on Unsplash

  Seven Days Before Tu Bishvat: Wheat and the Manna - We're counting down to Tu Bishvat, the time when we celebrate wheat - the grain of chochma, the one we bentch on. And today is the day we say Parshat Haman. Two powerful ideas coming together at once. Rav Ashkenazi brings from the Lubavitcher Rebbe: your hishtadlut is the kli - the vessel - not the source. H'shem is the source. He made the Man fall from heaven every single morning. He can do it again. He wants to give you parnassa. The segulah of saying Parshat Haman is that we remember - really remember - it's only Him. Every day. Every bracha, every paycheck, E very opportunity comes from H'shem alone . And then what? You become the kli. You go out and collect it. You show up - honest, giving maaser, paying on time. When you do your part right, the bracha meets you right where you are. Nachshon jumped into the water and it split. Most of us would rather play it safe. If you really believed H'shem would spl...

  Motzei Shabbat. First time ever. Darkness falls on Gan Eden. Adam and Chava are terrified. Adam takes two stones. Strikes them together. Fire. Light. Am Yisrael runs from Mitzrayim. They're free. Then the Egyptians start chasing them. They reach the Yam Suf. Water ahead. Army behind. Where do we go?. They jump, and the  sea splits. The lesson: When your plan falls apart, don't freeze. Adam struck the stones. Nachshon jumped in the water. They didn't get stuck on the problem; they found a solution. They moved forward. H'shem already worked it out. You just need to show up and take the next step. Don't get hooked on the challenge. Keep moving. Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash

H'shem created the world—and each of us—with intention. We're here to learn what's expected of us, to discover our unique purpose and live it. My mentor, H'rav Fanger, teaches: "You can't plant an apple tree and expect to squeeze out orange juice." Think about what this means in your life: You want people to see you as successful, but you're not putting in the daily work. You want to be known as kind, but you're not actually serving others. You want to be seen as reliable, but you're not showing up consistently. Stop spending energy trying to convince the world of who you want to be. Channel that energy into actually becoming it. Do the work. Build the skills. Practice the character traits. Live the life you're talking about. When you do, the world will naturally see it. Your efforts will speak for themselves, and you'll be rewarded. Stop proving. Start becoming. The results will show everyone exactly who you are . Photo by Alexan...

  Adam and Chava were perfect people. One sin brought death into the world, cursed the land, and we've been working to fix it ever since. So why didn't H'shem just start over? Because when you truly love something, you don't give up on it. You stay. You work through it. You believe in what it can become. H'shem will never give up on you, so don't give up on yourself. You're here because you're loved, believed in, and chosen. Even on the days when you feel broken. Especially on those days. Photo by Rosie Kerr on Unsplash

  Ever heard of the anterior mid-cingulate cortex? It's the part of your brain that grows when you do hard things. When Adam and Chava ate from the Etz HaDa'at Tov V'Ra, the nachash didn't disappear. He got inside. Now he shows up as ta'avah—that pull toward comfort, toward easy, toward what feels good. He's sneaky. He sounds like you: "You deserve a break." "Just this once." "Tomorrow." But here's the thing: every time you choose the harder thing—what you should do instead of what you want —that part of your brain gets stronger. You build capacity. The nachash is convincing. He's been at this since Bereishit. But you can override him. Every single time you do, you win. Your brain is built for this battle. Which voice are you feeding? Photo by Alfonso Castro on Unsplash

You work for months. You finally get it.... the   thing you've been chasing.   And the high lasts… what, five minutes, hours, days at best?  Then it's gone. And you're looking for the next thing. Here's why: If what you're striving for isn't attached to something real —to avodat H'shem, to actual life purpose—the satisfaction evaporates. It has nothing to hold onto. But when your goal is tied to something deeper? When it's part of your real work in this world? You actually feel accomplished . Not just for a moment. For real. The feeling lasts because it's rooted in something that matters. Before you pour yourself into the next goal, ask: What am I really chasing? The quick hit or something that's going to sustain me? Because the climb is hard either way. Might as well make it count. Photo by Rich Smith on Unsplash

  Expectations No one is writing the script for your relationships. When you walk in with expectations of how things should go, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. The other person didn't get the memo, and they shouldn't need one. Entitlement If you think you deserve a certain level of behavior, you're never going to get it. Everyone loves the nice person. Be nice under all circumstances and you will be reciprocated. It's that simple. Control Remember who's really in control. Rav Refael Abuchatzeira said that once the workload in Mitzrayim got hard, that's when Am Yisrael began to multiply—some say six babies in one labor, some say sixty. If things are difficult in your relationships, push through and smile. It means you're getting a nice surprise in another area. The hardship isn't random—H'shem is making space for blessing. Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

My ADHD brain has been hyper-focused on every Iran war update, as if my being updated could somehow change what's happening. But refreshing the news constantly won't change reality on the ground. My trust in H'shem and connecting to Him? That actually does something - both inside me and in the world. Less doomscrolling, more davening. Less obsessing, more emunah. Does anyone else need this reminder?  Photo by Tianlei Wu on Unsplash

Remember those days we would turn on the news to see what the weather was going to be and maybe had one shocking story a week that hit home? Time is moving fast. Life is changing. And we may actually be experiencing an incredible miracle right in front of our eyes. What do you think the personal lesson is that we each should take home? There are so many. And each one is right. This time I want to hear from you. Tell me one incredible lesson you think we should learn from current events.  

We make plans. We're convinced something is perfect. It has to work out like this or that, and then we feel like everything is turning on us. Our good intentions become stress and overwhelming challenges. 1. Remember who is in charge H'shem has a plan that, no matter how hard you try to figure out and read into it, is so much bigger than you could ever imagine. So do your best and trust that H'shem will work it out. And if it's not working? Know that's part of the plan. It doesn't mean to give up. Very often, what we want requires us to earn it. Always seek daas Torah, make sure you're doing it for the right reasons, and don't get discouraged. And if it doesn't work out? Your hard work did not go to waste. 2. Always look forward The past is not for regrets—it's to learn our lessons. But don't get stuck there. 3. And most important: be flexible We can recognize this behavior when a kid bursts into a tantrum because they're stuck on one thi...

  אין דבר יותר טוב לגוף משתיקה  (there is nothing better for the body than silence) - Pirkei Avot 1:17 I didn't post yesterday because sometimes silence really is the better choice—at least until you have something that might actually be helpful to say. Yesterday, a tragedy befell Am Yisroel when that 14-year-old boy was killed at the protests. It makes no difference what community he came from and that he was at a protest that some don't agree with. When we have machloket we are in danger, and we have to protect ourselves by being a nation— One nation serving H'shem . We don't have to agree with each other, but we have to get along to protect us and bring the geulah.

  You know that feeling when you scroll through social media and suddenly feel... less than? Our sages teach us that the eyes are the window to the soul. Modern neuroscience confirms: your brain doesn't distinguish between what you see and what you actually experience . When you watch someone else's highlight reel, your brain processes it as if it's happening to you—or worse, as if it's not happening to you. No wonder we feel depleted. We're in the middle of Shovavim — Rav Rephael Abuchatzeira and Rav Biderman say it is the easiest time of the year to return to H'shem. What you allow your eyes to see, your ears to hear, and your mouth to say affects your soul more than you can possibly imagine. What goes in through your eyes doesn't just pass through. It becomes part of you. Shovavim is giving us a gift—the chance to be more intentional. When you choose what you see, hear, and speak. You choose what you become.

Am Yisrael is back in Mitzrayim. Each one of us navigating our own personal galus alongside the collective one we're all experiencing. Is there a trackable process to experience real change? The answer is yes.           1. Stop repeating the same actions and expecting different results The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting things to magically change. If your current approach isn't working - whether it's how you're handling a difficult relationship, a career challenge, or a personal struggle - then something needs to shift. And that something is you. 2. Stop waiting for the situation or person to change People sit in their discomfort, frustrated, angry, waiting for the situation to resolve itself. The only person you can control is yourself. The moment you shift from "when will they change?" to "how can I create change from within?" - that's when movement starts happening. 3. Stop asking "why ...

  A serious question came up in our class yesterday. We were learning about Yaakov switching his hands over Menashe and Efraim. According to Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l, Yaakov knew who would have the greater, more Chashuv descendants.  "If that's true, and everything is already written, then what am I doing? Why am I davening? Everything is already planned out. What am I even trying for?" The fact that H'shem knows what will happen does not diminish your responsibility to make it happen. Don't try to take over H'shem's job. Let Him run the world. No cat is worried that H'shem will send him oranges instead of chicken or meat.  H'shem knows what you like, what you want. He created you—He knows everything about you and how to make you happy, better than anyone else in the world, including yourself. So leave running the world to Him, and you do your best. And I am positive you will be happy with the end result.

  New Year's resolutions don't stick—statistically, most fail by February. So do something different this year: Make time for YOU – just you and H'shem, to truly connect Learn to love yourself – see the good in you, because it's there When you do this? You'll change the world.