The friendship between Zev and Elchonon went back years. They grew up together in the same shtetl, made trouble together at cheder, and shared the same youthful dreams of making it rich someday. Their rebbi, to say the least, didn’t appreciate their get-rich planning as much as them. He constantly

The following story is printed in the sefer Ahavas Chaim. Our generation is blessed with an abundance of talmidei chachamim and Torah resources, and a significant percentage of the community are learned scholars. In previous centuries, however, it was not this way. Only the few gedolei hador and the local

Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai, better known as the Chida, was a tremendous talmid chacham who lived in the eighteenth century. The Chida was extremely well versed in all aspects of Torah, both hidden and revealed, and authored well over one hundred seforim. The Chida would learn in his bais

Never Too Far Gone – Part I Elimelech was a weaver by profession. His job was tedious and slow, requiring endless patience and concentration, with the output barely worth the tremendous efforts. Despite the endless hours he spent in front of his loom, Elimelech was barely earning any money. To

Rav Mordechai Yaffe, known as the Levush, was from the greatest halachic rulers during the era of the Acharonim, and wrote a commentary on the Shulchan Aruch and the Poskim. His name was Yaffe because he was truly beautiful. In fact, he davened that none of his children would have

Yonah was a simple-seeming Jew. He spent most of the day involved in farming or selling his produce, with a two-hour time period set aside for learning. He was a yarei shamayim who kept all the mitzvos, but did not stand out in any way for his avodas Hashem. Yonah

We’ll preface this story with a few other stories to illustrate two concepts that are vital for the understanding of our story. The first concept is rischa d’oraisa. This term is used to refer to passionate arguments regarding the proper understanding of a particular Gemara. When talmidei chachamim, each with

Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson, a contemporary of the the Chasam Sofer and author of the Shoel Umeishiv, was considered one of the foremost gedolim of his generation. His chavrusah and brother-in-law, Rav Mordechai Zev, was equally brilliant, and the two of them learned together for many years. They each wrote

Great tzaddikim, by the merits of their holiness and piety, are able to accomplish extraordinary things. Their unadulterated faith and pure prayers are so powerful that their requests of Hashem are immediately fulfilled. Following are a few stories that demonstrate the power of a tzaddik’s word. *** Rav Chaim Ben

The Hassans were a prominent Jewish family in Italy. Blessed with solid business acumen and a great deal of mazel, everything they touched seemed to turn to gold. It was no secret that they numbered amongst Italy’s wealthiest families. Natan Hassan was a well-known philanthropist who supported many local and