Several times each day, we describe God in our prayers as a shome’a tefila, One who hears prayers. “Hear our voice, Hashem, our God…accept our prayers with compassion…don’t turn us away empty…Blessed are You, Hashem, Who hears prayer.”  This blessing of the Amidah prayer paints a nice, neat picture of the relationship between our prayers […]

The table used by the heroic Hasid Joseph Gluck last Chanukah, to stop a horrific stabbing attack that wounded five and killed one, was remade into a dreidel-shaped menorah stand to commemorate the miracle of many more lives being saved. Gluck, who was presented with the New York State Senate Liberty Medal soon after, famously […]

What’s the purpose of a miracle? There are of course many answers, including those that are specific to the particular miracle in question. For instance, I recently learned how Abarbanel (15th-century Portuguese commentator) explains the purpose of one particular miraculous moment in the Book of Judges. In Judges Chapter 13, a malach appears to the […]

My fourth child was born 6 weeks early, but otherwise healthy. Or so we thought. In the moments after delivery, the OBGYN and neonatologist exclaimed over the baby’s umbilical cord. Part of it was a normal tube, but part of it looked like a thick, flat pancake. “Is that a problem?” I asked. “Doesn’t seem […]

When Chanukah came on Tuesday night, I was drained like I haven’t been drained in quite some time. My baby had begun teething the night before and had woken up half a dozen times. My older son (who’s been screaming out randomly at night) also woke up several times. Despite barely sleeping, I had to […]

If God Himself made open miracles to tell you that it was time to return to the land of your forefathers would you listen? The Biblical commentator Rashi asks (on the first verse of parshat Yitro) what it was that Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, heard that motivated him to leave his homeland and idolatrous proclivities in order to join the […]