Yehuda felt a special connection to Shabbos, and worked on himself to elevate Shabbos and to observe the holy day in the loftiest of ways. He kept his mind determinedly focused only on inyanim of Shabbos, not allowing his thoughts to wander to mundane matters. Sleep? How could he sleep

Rav Shalom Schwadron, the famed Yerushalmi maggid, taught by example that one wasn’t lowering himself by being sensitive to the feelings of children, but that this was the way to propel oneself to greatness. He would go out of his way to make young children, especially orphans, feel special. In

Behind the Iron Curtain lived an elderly rav, whom we’ll call Rav Baruchov, who had a shul in his basement. There wasn’t much about the room that made it a shul, save for the small aron kodesh in the front and the bimah at its center. But this was the

It was Motzai Yom Kippur. All the congregants had already left shul to break their fasts, but the holy rebbe, Rav Levi Yitzchok M’Berditchev, remained behind. Wrapped in his tallis, his face a flaming red, he retreated to his private study at the rear of the bais medrash. The minutes

When the queen took to her sickbed, the entire country was heartbroken. She was not the stereotypical queen, high and removed from the ails of her people. Queen Maria possessed an extraordinary heart and utilized her position as the wife of the highest ruler in the land to do good

Rav Yonasan Eibshitz was a great tzaddik who lived in Prague. He authored the Urim V’tumim, Yaaros Dvash, and myriad other seforim. He was a brilliant talmid chacham and a leader of klal Yisroel. After the terrible spiritual devastation wrought by Shabsai Tzvi on klal Yisroel, the global Jewish community

The following is based on a parable from the Chofetz Chaim. As it has happened many times throughout our history, difficult decrees were enacted against the Jews in the country where Gidalya resided. To save his son’s life, both physically and spiritually, Gidalya made the difficult decision that the best

Rav Yom Tov Lipman Heller, author of the Tosfos Yom Tov and other seforim, lived in the era of the Acharonim. He had a son, Reb Shmuel, a young man who took ill at the prime of his life. The Tosfos Yom Tov’s suffering, as he watched his son wither

The Ben Ish Chai was a great Sephardic mekubal who was fluent in all aspects of Torah. He authored many seforim in Halacha, agadah, mussur, kabbalah, and drush. He also published a volume with stories, since often a story is the most effective way to give over a message. The

Henoch’s life was not an easy one. He suffered through a difficult childhood, and as he got older, his difficulties just seemed to get worse. He had a strained marriage, lived in poverty, and found it difficult to get along with others. Although Henoch tried to have emunah that this