Online Torah Classes with Rabbi Mendy Goldberg

LECH LECHA What's Your Legacy? We call him "Abraham our Father." What is so honorable about that? What is special about being "our father"?Abraham was the first to think about continuity. The most important enterprise Abraham created was not that he was a great person in his own right, but that he established a movement that would continue to flourish long after him.

NOACHWho's flaw is it? The painful ending to Noah's life. When we notice a problem in another person, does it really exist in him, or is it coming from within us, as the Gemara says, "he disqualifies others with his own blemish?" Is our job to rebuke the other, or is the other a mirror, sent from Above to remind us what needs fixing in ourselves? This week the Torah gives a clear...

BEREISHIS Forbidden Fruit are Always the Sweetest Parshas Bereishis reads like an indictment of humanity. On every day of Creation the Torah declares"tov" that it was good, yet after the creation of man those words are conspicuously missing, and by the end of the parsha man is described as "only evil all day long," leading to the decree of the Flood. But after the Flood, when N...

ROSH HASHANA The Silent Shofar Is it a good sign that Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos? This year and next (5787-5788) bring a once-in-fifty-year occurrence: two consecutive Rosh Hashanahs both falling on Shabbos. Historically, both the worst national tragedies (the destruction of both Batei Mikdash) and the greatest triumphs (forgiveness for the Golden Calf, the building of the Mishkan, entry into...

NITZAVIM _ VAYEILECH The Half Hour Challenge We must climb another rung in spiritual work by absorbing a revolutionary idea from the "Alter Rebbe" (the first Chabad rebbe) about how to relate to the evil inclination (yetzer hara). Quoting King Solomon, The evil inclination as an "old and foolish king", experienced, confident, and able to stir up overwhelming emotions. But ultim...

TAVO Are They Really Curses? It's hard to believe that the one who loved Israel most parted from them with curses double those God gave. Moses stood at his life's end, knowing this was his last chance to speak. A parent saying final goodbyes doesn't soften hard truths, he says everything, in full detail, to arm his children with every tool possible. This multiplication of warnings is l...

KI TEITZEI Beyond the Conflict Don't fight the yetzer hara (evil inclination) head-on, it's exhausting. Instead, rise above it by setting fixed times for Torah study for its own sake. The pleasure of Torah naturally eclipses cheap desires, so the battle never even starts. This is the answer to why the fight against the yetzer hara is hinted at through an optional war, because once you tran...

SHOFTIM Judge Thyself Parshas Shoftim coincides with the beginning of the month of Elul and opens with the command to appoint judges and officers "in all your gates" and the emphasis on the singular (lecha) points inward: the real courtroom is a person's own mind, and the real gates are sight, hearing, smell, and speech, the points where the outside world first makes contact with the...

REEAH BREAKING OLD HABITS Parshat Re'eh explores why Moses uses the singular "See" and present-tense "I give," arguing this teaches that free choice never disappears, no one is ever too old or too "stuck" to change, unlike Bilaam, who believed he could only find purity in death. Drawing on Tanya's model of the "animal soul" (heart, instant gratificat...

EIKEV Your Protector and Gaurdian As Moshe continues his conversation with the Jewish people entering the Land of Israel, he reminds them of many mitzvot they will need to observe. Mezuzah is the one mitzvah mentioned twice, once last week and once this week, each time paired with the reward of long life. But what exactly is a mezuzah? Is it an amulet? A good luck charm? And what about the idea th...

VAESCHANAN Are My Prayers Being Answered? Why did Moshe pray 515 times to enter the Land of Israel when it was clear Hashem was not answering him - and where did all those unanswered prayers go? Why continue praying for redemption after two thousand years of silence?

DEVARIM Who Are You, To Criticize? Moses, after forty years of loving, patient leadership over Israel, suddenly delivers harsh rebukes in his final speeches in Deuteronomy, something he never did before, even when the people sinned gravely (the Golden Calf, the spies, constant complaints) and were sentenced to wander the desert for forty years. Normally partings involve reconciliation, not harsh w...

MATOS- MASEI Can't We All Get Along? This weeks Torah reading contains a striking anomaly: the Torah records the precise date of Aharon's death - the first of Av -even though his passing was already described in Parashas Chukas without any date. The Rebbe explains this is deliberate: the Torah wants us to encounter Aharon's yahrtzeit at the moment we read this parashah, which always fa...

PINCHUS The Mystery of Elijah the Prophet Pinchas and Elijah the Prophet are the same person - the only individual in history to conquer death and live forever in this world. The Torah's promise of a "covenant of peace" to Pinchas is understood by our Sages on multiple levels, the deepest being that Pinchas himself became Elijah, the eternal herald of the Redemption reading supported...

CHUKAS - BALAKAnger Management The Torah portion deals with two central themes: the sin of "Water of Complaint" and the Red Heifer. The central message is that anger reflects a lack of faith, one who truly believes in Divine Providence does not lose control, knowing that everything is guided from Above toward a good purpose. Moses's sin, according to Maimonides, was anger itself, whi...

KORACH When Jealousy is a Good Thing. Jealousy is not an evil impulse to be suppressed, but rather a powerful engine that needs proper direction. Using Korach as the central example, we see how a person of immense potential and spiritual gifts can fail when he tries to become someone else rather than channeling his unique strengths into his own role. Korach's tragedy was not that he felt jealo...

SHELACH This week we receive a deeply meaningful lesson from the sin of the spies. The unforgivable mistake of the spies was not the fear itself. The challenge of conquering the Land is genuinely daunting - no one knows this better than we do, to this very day. The essential sin was that their fears about the Land reflected what was already happening inside them. Long before the Land threatened th...

BAHALOTECHA Is Retirement an Option? Summer is upon us, and with it a season of rest for some. Nevertheless, a Jew needs to live in constant upward motion. He must break into new territory, advance beyond himself, and move the world toward a better place. Rather than going with the flow and waiting for miracles to happen, a Jew pushes against the current and expands the boundaries of his influence...

NASO How the "Great" have fallen Life is one big escape act, with the "evil inclination"acting as the world's most sophisticated smuggler. Despite our best morning intentions, we find ourselves exhausted within hours, outsmarted by our own inner adversary that prevents us from completing even a single task properly. Every couple of months, we witness another public scandal...

SHAVUOT From Ruth to King David One woman merited what no one else did. Ruth the Moabite-a convert from the nation of Moab-became forever bound with the Torah itself, to the point that her story is read each year on Shavuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah. More than anyone else, Ruth teaches the secret of truly receiving Torah and cleaving to it.

BAMIDBAR Why Segregate the Jews to 12 Tribes? The Torah portion of Bamidbar, always read before Shavuot, delivers a foundational message: every person has a unique path and purpose. The meticulous separation of the twelve tribes, each with its own flag, colors, and symbols, teaches that spiritual life is not a competition. Just as the angels surrounding the Divine Throne each have distinct roles w...

Lag Baomer Unstoppable Prayer, Real Relationship. One of the most famous blessings associated with Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) is his power to help childless couples. The Jewish people have long attributed a special spiritual remedy to Rashbi and to Lag B'Omer — his day of joy — specifically in the matter of being blessed with children. At the heart of this topic is a remarkable Midrash,...

EMOR"G-d is Talking to You!" The answer to all of life's questionsis right in front of you, how do you hear that voice? How does the Torah become a sharp and clear compasswithin a world full of noise and distractions? A powerful and moving lesson on the power of the Torah,the Torah reading that encompasses all of the Holidays — and the how to perpare for Shavuot."

ACHAREI - KEDOSHIM The Ultimate Sacrifice Let's explore the concept of mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice) and its role in Jewish education. The purpose of remembrance is not merely to mourn the fallen, but to inspire future generations of heroes. Drawing from the Akeidah (the Binding of Isaac), the martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva, and modern soldiers like Matan Aberjil, who threw himself on a grenade to...

TAZRIA -METZORA The Power of A Good Word A small but powerful step each of us can take is to stop the spread of this negativity. To challenge mistaken ideas-yes-but not to despair of the people who hold them, and not to define them with absolute, hopeless labels. Instead, we must find the way to highlight the potential within every Jew to return and to repair their actions. A fundamental question...