Why Shavuos is Relevant Today

As we celebrate the holiday of Shavuos, it is worth reflecting on the significance of this date and its impact on the Jewish People in particular and the world in general. Shavuos is the anniversary that G-d revealed the blueprint for humanity to live a life with the utmost holiness and Godliness on this mundane earth. G-d revealed this blueprint to us in what is known as the Torah. It is hard to overstate how transformative this transmission was to the Jewish People. The Torah unlocks the ability of a mortal being and allows him to live a life of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. The Torah enables the Jew to infuse spirituality and purpose into mundane and physical activities. The Torah has empowered the Jew to connect with the Divine even in the world's darkest moments and find that light in an increasingly dark world. In his book Derech Hashem, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (1707-1746) writes G-d created many spiritual manifestations in this world with His presence. However, one embodiment is more compelling and more intense than any other in this world. This manifestation of Godliness and holiness that one can connect to in this experience is more profound and superior than any other experience. Someone can only experience this profound manifestation through Torah Study. That is another explanation of the famous words of the sages, ותלמוד תורה כנגד כולם or the Study of Torah is equivalent to them all. I found this interpretation mindblowing and refreshing at the same time. It provides an entirely new and refreshing perspective on the power of Torah study. The conventional understanding of the purpose of Torah Study is to accumulate knowledge. For example, to know how to put Tefilin on his arm, he must study and be knowledgeable in the laws of Tefilin. However, there is another dimension that is entirely different and transcendent about Torah Study. It is the ability of a mortal being in this mundane world to connect with Godliness and holiness that will touch his soul to the core. For this reason, it is meaningful for our souls to study sections of the Torah that we have studied before, i.e., the weekly Parsha, or to explore areas of the Torah that may have little practical relevance. The truth is the connection to Godliness and holiness our souls connect with during this experience is so profound that it matters little what the topic is or how relevant the Talmudic discourse may be for the participants in the class. אשרינו מה טוב חלקינו! Fortunate is our lot in life that we have the gift of Torah! As we celebrate the Yom Tov of Shavuos, let us reflect on this unparalleled opportunity for spiritual experiences that the Torah offers us in the jungle of this mundane world. Have a Great Yom Tov, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch

Chickens Come Home to Roost

The chickens have finally come home to roost. After increasing calls to "globalize the intifada," two young Jews were murdered in our nation's capital this week after attending an event at the Capital Jewish Museum. The shooter yelled "Free Palestine" as he brutally cut short the lives of two people with so much promise in front of them. If anything, it should dispel any myth that the so-called "Free Palestine" has anything to do with alleviating the plight of Palestinians. The two victims had been committed to fostering good relations between Jews and Arabs and their deaths do absolutely nothing to assist the Palestinian cause. There are so many layers of this tragedy to unpack. I will touch upon a few points. Security: Undoubtedly, there should be and will be calls to increase security in the Jewish community. The WSJ noted that the average cost for security for Orthodox Jewish Schools in 2022-23 was $184,000 and has risen to $339,000 in 2024-25. There are limits to what increased security can accomplish. As Bari Weiss noted, "No police force, not even the best in the world, can hold back a culture that has embraced violence as a means of expression." While the calls for an increased security posture are justified, the issue is far more complex than just increasing a security budget. Free Speech: It's a tragic irony that adherents of the Free Palestine movement manipulate the privileges of liberal democracies to advance hate and violence. While I am not a constitutional scholar, the Supreme Court ruled many years ago that free speech does not entitle you to "yell fire in a crowded theater." In essence, it means that while you generally have the right to express yourself freely, that freedom is not absolute and can be limited if your speech creates a clear and present danger, such as inciting panic or causing harm. This week's murder of two Jews demonstrates the dangerous overlap between hateful rhetoric and bloodshed. Root of Conflict: If there can be any silver lining since October 7, the roots of the conflict have become more apparent. As this week's events have demonstrated, it has nothing to do with alleviating the plight of the Palestinians or Arabs. In March, there was a revenge killing in Syria by militias associated with the new regime who executed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite sect. In case you missed the United Nations condemning it or the students marching in Ivy League Universities, you are not alone. The double standard is so obvious and blatant. The root of the conflict is also not because of the lack of any Palestinian State. The Tibetians and Kurds have long aspired for a state and their cause gets a brief yawn from the international community. It's also not about settlements, occupation or anything else the mainstream media might want us to believe. The root of the conflict is the strong objection by nations all over the world to any Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. The ties of the Jewish People to their ancestral homeland are apparently too much for many to handle. It's essential to be clear-eyed about what is at stake. Everything else is just noise. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch

It Just Takes 10,000 hours

Our friends in the UK have a custom during Shiva to wish the mourners, "A Long Life." I have wondered what kind of long life they were blessing others with. For a person simply to spend more time on this earth and not have any meaning or purpose would not seem to be the ideal blessing. I have been pondering this question recently as we heard about the bombshell announcement coming out of Nebraska this week. Omaha's most beloved son, Warren Buffett, at the age of 94, also known as the Oracle of Omaha, announced that he will be stepping down as CEO from his position at Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett, who started the company as a failing textile maker and transformed into an investing juggernaut worth over a cool $160 billion, was calling it a career. Although he had selected his successor a few years ago, the timing of this announcement and his departure from the company by the end of this year caught everyone by surprise. After a standing ovation, applause from the audience of around 40,000, he joked: "The enthusiasm shown by that response could be interpreted in two ways." There is not enough ink in the world to write about many layers of the Warren Buffett story. In his weekly column in the WSJ, Jason Zweig wrote, "Ever since 1942, when he bought his first stock at 11, he has devoured information about companies, reading corporate reports the way most people listen to music. As a young investment manager, Buffett would wander through his house with his nose in a corporate annual report, practically bumping into the furniture, oblivious to the comings and goings of family and friends. While his kids played at an amusement park, he would sit on a bench and read financial statements. Buffett was there physically, but mentally and emotionally, he was off in a world of his own, fixated on tax-loss carryforwards and amortization schedules. According to his estimates, Zweig added, "Buffett has read more than 100,000 financial statements in his more-than-seven-decade career. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book, Outliers, about the 10,000 rule. He argues that while some may think that one needs supernatural natural talents or abilities to reach mastery in any field, it really takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery in any skill. Ten thousand hours is a little more than 416 days straight, without eating, sleeping, or anything else. That is not possible for any human being to sustain. However, if one spends four hours a day practicing an activity, over the course of 365 days, that equals 1,460 hours in a year.In less than eight years, one can achieve mastery in that field. Warren Buffett clearly applied the 10,000 to his study of the stock market and dividends paid off quite handsomely. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, the great Torah sage who passed away in 1986, was known to have completed the entire Talmud over 200 times in his lifetime. Reb Moshe, as he was affectionately referred to, applied the 10,000 rule to his dedication and passion for Torah Study. While he may have been blessed with intelligence and a solid memory, the amount of time he spent pursuing his priorities resulted in him being able to master the entire Torah and be proficient in any area of Jewish Studies. It may be a bit of an oversimplification, but there is much truth to the notion that if you want to become the very best in the area of life that is most important to you, all you need to do is spend 10,000 hours on the project. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch

Greatest Miracle in Our Lifetime

Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center is a hospital on a hill in the Bayit Vegan section of Jerusalem. It is known to be a world-class healthcare facility. What may not be so well known is that its maternity ward delivers over 22,000 babies annually. While there are no official stats, this is one of the highest numbers of babies delivered in one hospital in the world. To give some context, the number of babies delivered is far lower in Jacksonville, a city with a population comparable to Jerusalem. UF Health, which, according to my basic research, delivers the most babies locally, has 4,000 births in its facility. The number of babies delivered in Israel is, in fact, the highest among all nations in the developed world. The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) is a unique forum where the governments of 37 democracies with market-based economies collaborate to develop policy standards to promote sustainable economic growth—released data showing that Israel has, on average, three children born to a woman. The study says that at least 2.1 children are needed to ensure a stable population. Most Western nations have a birth rate of 1.2- 1.8 per woman. The high birth rate in Israel is a primary factor in its population continuing to rise. It currently has a population of nearly 10 million people, a twelvefold increase in numbers since 1948, when it had a population of about 800,000. In addition to the birth rate far exceeding the death rate, Jews from all over the world have returned to their ancestral homeland. Today, there are more shuls and places of Torah study in the Land of Israel than in the last two thousand years. I think of my ancestors who lived in Eastern Europe and would gather around the Seder table and declare at its conclusion, “Next Year in Jerusalem.” For them, having a vibrant Jewish life in Israel was a fantasy. The reality of Jews returning and thriving in their ancestral homeland is a gift to our generation that I am not sure we fully appreciate. The prophet Zecharia declared two thousand years in the throes of the Jews being exiled from Israel the following words. כֹּה אָמַר ה' צְבָאוֹת עֹד יֵשְׁבוּ זְקֵנִים וּזְקֵנוֹת בִּרְחֹבוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָים וְאִישׁ מִשְׁעַנְתּוֹ בְּיָדוֹ מֵרֹב יָמִים: וּרְחֹבוֹת הָעִיר יִמָּלְאוּ יְלָדִים וִילָדוֹת מְשַׂחֲקִים בִּרְחֹבֹתֶיהָ: Translation Thus said G-d: There shall yet be elderly men and women in the squares of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. And the squares of the city shall be crowded with boys and girls playing in the squares. The last year and a half have been agonizing and excruciating with the war and the hostages that are still in captivity. At the same time, it is still worthy to remind ourselves about the story of Jewish life being rebuilt in our ancestral lifetime as perhaps the greatest miracle of our generation. Have a Peaceful Shabbos, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch