Yaacov Haber

For Avrohom Avinu, at ninety nine years old things started popping.

When we think about a Bris Milah we immediately conjure up images of a new life, a new beginning and a fresh start. Our Parsha begins when Avrohom Avinu was ninety-nine years old. He had just had a Bris Milah. It is difficult to consider ninety-nine years old a new start for anything or anyone, yet to Avrohom Avinu - things were just starting to fall into place. His goals were starting to materialize. Avrohom now was told that… Continue

Do We Really Believe In God?
By Rabbi Yaacov Haber

Believing in G-d is tricky business. We are believers. We do Mitzvos, we say the Shema every day, we keep Shabbos carefully, phrases such as “G-d willing” and “G-d forbid” are a regular part of our vocabulary.

Noach was a believer. He spent one hundred and twenty years building a boat because G-d told him that there was going to be a flood. He planted and cultivated special cedar trees so that he would have timber that could withstand the fier… Continue

Thumbs Down
By Rabbi Yaacov Haber

In Talmudic times the Sukos dancing at the Simchas Beis Hashoeva was reserved for the leaders of the generation. This was a Simcha the likes of which no other simcha can be compared. Raban Shimon ben Gamliel would dance in the middle. The Talmud reports that he would stand on his thumbs for long periods of time with his feet in the air - and the crowd would cheer him on. “What a Rabbi!”

Interestingly this great simcha took place during the Roman occupation, an… Continue

Responsible Chinuch
By Rabbi Yaacov Haber

I remember as a child growing up in ‘anywhere USA’ meeting two shluchim of Torah U’mesorah. They had come to our town to talk to parents about sending their children to a Yeshivah. They were Yeshivah bochurim that had taken from their vacation time, packed their suitcases with cans of tuna fish and sardines and spent their nights on Greyhound busses to get from city to city. They had genuine warmth that was inspiring and their expectations were modest.… Continue

I spent just a few minutes researching flies. I couldn’t find too much useful information about them. I learned that once the adult house fly hatches from the pupal stage, it has an approximate life span of 15 to 30 days. I also learned that a female house fly can lay up to 500 eggs in a three to four day period; and that although house flies tend not to leave — they can travel up to six miles in 24 hours.
What I couldn’t seem to find out was the purpose of the fly. What exactly does the fly con… Continue