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Recent Posts
- Is Your Turkey a Holy Bird?
- Vaccinating Our Children Against Prayer
- Sukkos – The Jews Inner Self
- Rav Soloveitchik on Awakening the Emotional on Yom Kippur
- Rosh HaShanah – Avodah of Ben & Eved
- What Does It Mean to be Created in the Image of God?
- The Bilvavi’s Personal Teshuva Journey – From the Mind to the Heart
- Elul – Why Be Jewish?
- What Does G-d Want From Us?
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Refraining from the Negative in all Public Situations
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Distancing from Relating Well Known Information
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Revealing to Others Limited by Request and How It Might Spread
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Limitations to Retelling it Because of People Who Know and Location
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Well Known Information and the Limitations to Retelling it
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Worse with More People and Ambiguity Before More Than Three
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Despite Difficulty using Any Mode and Even if Including Yourself
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Prohibited Regardless of Motivator or Consequences
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Habitual Lashon Hara Loses Share in World to Come
- Sefer Chofetz Chaim – Lashon Hara Defined and the Commandments Transgressed
- Exile of the Soul
- Pinchas’ Zealotry – Spiritual Environmentalism
- Parshas Chukas- Step by Step
- Tefillah — A Ladder that Ascends to Heaven
- The Awesomeness of Shavuos
- Bamidbar-Shavuos Learning to Live Positively
- Living A Life of Neshama
- Pirkei Avos – Chapter Three
- Pesach – Leaving the Imprisonment of Materialism
- Some Great Pesach Mp3s on the Seder and the Haggadah by Rabbi Moshe Gordon
- A Brighter Future for Kiruv
- How Can Everyone Make Purim More Meaningful and Really Take Advantage of This Great Day
- American Pie Purim – A Kabbalistic Interpretation of a Modern Classic
- The Month of Adar – A Time of Happiness
- Pleasure, Antisemitism and Jewish Identity
- Twice Adar – Understanding the Halachos of Adar Rishon and Adar Sheini
- Yisro and the Aseres HaDibros in a Nutshell
- Sanctifying The Act of Eating
- Hishtadlus and Parshas HaMon
- The Most Famous Ramban in Chumash – The End of Parshas Bo
- Beyond Our Nature
- Shovavim – Repairing Our Thoughts
- The Eight Sheets of Chanukah
- Greek Influence Today
- Parshas Vayeitzei – Your are a Big Tzadik
- Parshas Toldos – FFB and BT Tzaddikim
- On Disabling the “Frumkeit-Checker” In My Brain
- Parsha Lech Lecha
- Helping Klal Yisroel with Torah, Avodah and Gemillas Chassadim
- Inner Meaning Behind The Four Species and the Sukkah – Bilvavi
- Yom Kippur – Disconnecting from Sin
- Embracing Judgment
- Rosh Hashanah, Mussar and Chassidus
- How Kiruv and the Baal Teshuva Movement has Changed
- You Don’t Desire? Then Yearn to Desire!
- Elul is a Great Time to Work on Kavanna
- Rav Itamar Shwartz (Bilvavi) on Pondering The Meaning Of Life
- Mourning on Tisha B’Av: Feeling the Void
- The Nine Days: Awakening Yourself To Tears
- Parshas Matos- Words are Stronger than Thoughts
- The Three Weeks – Building the World with Ahavas Chinam
- Rabbi Moshe Feinstein on The Mistaken Rejection of Torah Leaders
- The Path of the BT
- The Test of Shavuos
- The Ramchal’s Prescription for Making Better Brochos
- Do Not Profane My Holy Name.
- Pirkei Avos Week 2
- Expressing Gratitude for Spiritual Opportunities
- Developing Emunah of Our Mind, Heart and Actions
- Pesach – From Child to Adult
- Rabbi Moshe Gordon on Pesach
- A Happier Purim
- The Joy of Purim – Arriving at True Happiness in our Souls
- Do Not Accept a False Report
- Do the Details Really Matter?
- Parshas Vayechi – Of Arrows and Feathers
- The Tenth of Teves – A Fast for Torah
- Der Meistersingers of Athens – What’s Up with the Tune for Maoz Tzur?
- Experiencing Chanukah
- Forbidden Kiruv
- Wake Up and Smell the Bacon
- Losing Thanksgiving
- Parsha Chayei Sarah – Your Billionaire Opportunity
- Our Akeidas Yitzchok
- Helping Baalei Teshuva Be Themselves
- Tzidkus and Chassidus
- Start Shnayim Mikra V’Echod Targum This Week with Bereishis
- Five Ways to Do Teshuvah
- Yom Kippur – Disconnecting from Sin
- The Four Foundational Spiritual Practices of the Ramchal
- The Challenge of Elul for “Former Teshuva Masters”
- Parshas Ki Teitzei- Maintain Your Advantage This Elul
- Eric Bruntlett’s Elul
- Teshuvah: Returning to Our Source
- The Importance of Developing Emotional Connections
- How Do You Feel Sad About Something You Never Saw? (Bilvavi)
- Eating Cookies at the Kosel on the 17th of Tammuz
- Parshas Balak – Everyone Knows, Except Me
- Parah Adumah – It’s Never as Bad, or as Evil, as It Seems
- Parshas Korach – Give it Up
- Rav Uri Zohar’s Gift
- Parshas Behaloscha – Five Barriers, Three Breakthroughs
- The Joy of Mussar
- Shmirah Ba’Shavuah – Parshas Bamidbar/Shavous Edition
- Yom Tov – Finding Our True Source of Happiness
- Parshas Behar – Choose the Best
- Lag B’Omer – Inner Bonfire
- The Maharal’s Understanding of Lechem Oni
- Parshas Metzora – Fly Little Birdie
- Beyond Vertlach – Key Points of the Seder
- Preparing for Pesach is Part of our Avodas Hashem
- Spiritual Growth Through Drinking on Purim
- Unique Aspects of Purim
- Discovering Your Happiness
- Purim Katan and Daf Yomi B’Halacha
- Defining Happiness – Rav Itamar Schwartz (Bilvavi)
- Guide to Buying Tzitzit
- Groups Within Orthodoxy
- Shovavim
- Ten for the Tenth of Teves
- Tenth of Teves Reading and Listening
- Chanukah – Miracles Within – Bilvavi
- American Holidays – Thanksgiving Survival Guide, Really Short Version
- An Awesome Place, Time and Soul at the Kotel
- Let’s Share the Joy
- A Brief Introduction to the Works of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch
- Four Top Misconceptions About Judaism
- The 60 Second Guide to the Book of Bereishes
- A Baal Teshuva’s Father’s Perspectives
- Yom Kippur Takeaway – Forgiving Others When We’re Slighted
- Rebbetzin Heller Gottlieb on Approaching the Viduy on Yom Kippur
- The Avodah of Rosh HaShanah
- Offering Up Our Egos on the Altar of Elul
- Pondering The Meaning Of Life
- Two Kinds of Joy
- Shmira Bashavua – Shmiras HaLashon in the Weekly Parsha
- Tisha B’Av Prep – Preserving Our Prayer Portal and Lessons from Bar Kamtza’s Pain
- Unity, Diversity, the 9th of Av
- The Three Weeks – Building The World
- We’re All Broken Vessels – The 17th of Tammuz
- Rabbi Mayer Schiller – The Biggest Challenges Facing Baalei Teshuva
- Telling My Story
- The Power of the Spoken Word
- What Not To Do At The Shabbat Table
- SGZ V3 – With Subtitles – Is Developing a Deeper Connection to Hashem Worth the Effort?
- For Erev Rosh Chodesh Sivan – A Translation of The Shelah’s Prayer for Parents on Behalf of their Children
- Shavuos – Not Just Another Uber Driver
- Momentary Gains or Lasting Benefits
- Calibrating Covid Fear
- Fifty Ways to Meet Your Lover (Sefirat HaOmer)
- Matzah with a Shmear of Spiritual Sensitivity
- Pesach – Internalizing Your Knowledge
- The Seder in Four Hours, Five Minutes or One Minute
- TEN WAYS to help you and YOUR CHILDREN have a more Meaningful and Inspiring PESACH SEDER
- Perspectives on Pesach Hotels
- Missing an Opportunity
- Preparing Your Soul for Pesach
- When Adar Enters, Focus on Connection and Completion
- Purim – It’s Not a Party for the Non-Observant
- Purim: Happiness In Spite Of Pain
- Dealing With Disappointment
- Understanding Gods Plan as Best We Can
- The Halachos of Snow
- OMG
- Bringing Holiness Into How You Eat
- Inspiration in Everyday Life
- Sharing Details About Our Past
- Should I Argue Against Evolution or for a G-d Directed Evolution
- The Biggest Problem in Judaism
- Yearning on the Tenth of Teves
- Doing a Better Hallel On Chanukah
- Chanukah – Transcending Self-Centeredness
- An E-Mail To My Brother-In-Law
- Being Thankful for Thanksgiving
- David Linn’s The grATTITUDE Newsletter
- When Opposites Attract
- Surrendering to Humility
- The Secret Of All Growth
- 100 words of Chizuk
- The Only Absolute Connection We Have
- Noach was a good man, a good man, a good man…
- Joy on Rosh Hashanah
- Four Words that Fuel Spiritual Growth
- Led Zeppelin & Frum Culture
- Crying From Within on Tisha BAv
- SGZ Vol10 – Our Avodah without the Beis HaMikdash
- SGZ – V9 – The Three Foundations
- SGZ – V8 – Applying Our Spiritual Knowledge to Improve Our Davening
- Spiritual Growth Zoomcast V7 – Inspiration, Information, Internalization
- Inspiration, Information and Internalization
- Spiritual Growth Zoomcast V6 – The Importance of the Mesillas Yesharim Introduction
- Should You Skip the Mesillas Yesharim Introduction?
- Spiritual Growth Zoomcast V5 – The Ten Minute Mesillas Yesharim Overview
- Overview of Mesillas Yesharim
- Spiritual Growth Zoomcast V4 – Going Beyond Bein Adam L’Makon
- Going Beyond Bein Adam L’Makom
- Rav Itamar Shwartz (Bilvavi) on Shavous and the Soul Perspective
- Is Developing a Deeper Connection to Hashem Worth the Effort?
- SGZ V2 – What is Spiritual Growth?
- Spiritual Growth Zoomcast – Volume 1
- The Shul Zoom Boom
- Improving Our Davening at This Critical Time
- Pesach Redeeming Your Soul
- The Five Minute Seder and the Five Minute Plus Seder
- Taking a Step Forward after Three Hard Steps Back
- Developing Our Spiritual Side
- Beyond Corona – I
- The Love and Happiness of Adar
- Rabbi Dovid Schwartz zt”l – Towards a Subler Noncomformity
- The Joy of Existence
- Az Yashir: An Introduction
- The Engaging Shabbos Table
- My Skirt is My Korban Todah
- The Candles and the Tree
- A Hellenist Left Standing
- Wisdom, Torah and Mussar
- Modern Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Baalei Teshuva Research Reports
- Chessed, Gratitude and Love
- Thanksgiving and the BT
- The Pain of Forgetting The Mourners Consolation
- Ode to a BT-FFB “Intermarriageâ€
- Self-Actualization and the Focus on Your Self
- The Inner Meaning Behind The Four Species and the Sukkah
- The Chofetz Chaim’s 85th Yahrzeit is the 24th of Elul – Here is His NY Times Obituary(1933)
- How the Terms BT and FFB Stunt Our Spiritual Growth
- In Search of Neo-Mussar
- Confessions of a BT Wannabe
- Introspection on Tisha B’Av
- Growing at the Bottom of the Heap
- Rav Shimshon Pincus ztâ€l on “Taste and See that Hashem is Good”
- Turning the Tables on the Constant Test of Summertime Immodesty
- Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller on Anti-Semitism
- Why Doesn’t the Segulah of Tzitzis Work?
- Blessed with Diamonds From Rabbi Miller
- An Ambidextrous Theology
- Rabbi Wolbe – Each Person Must Know He’s Important – Bamidbar/Shavuos
- Mourning’s End – Understanding Sefira and Lag B’Omer
- Beyond College Campuses – Judaism in Cherry Hill is Alive
- Profiles in Courage – BTs and the Trait of G’vurah
- The Five Minute Seder
- Pesach and the Three Components of Emunah
- Get Ready for Pesach with These Great MP3s and PDFs
- Purim: The Joys of Simcha and Sasson
- Finding Joy in the Practice of Judaism
- You Used to be So Much Fun – Relating to Non-Religious Family and Friends
- Why Do We Say Brochos Quickly?
- For the Love of Money – Parshas Ki Sisa
- Fanning The Flame
- Factors in Choosing a Mesivta for your Son – Part 2
- Getting to Know Your Feelings – Understanding The Power of Love
- Adults at Risk
- Ten Greatest Songs of All Time
- Nobody Told Me
- Factors in Choosing a Mesivta for your Son – Part 1
- The Awesomeness of Being Jewish
- The Influence of Society
- The Teshuva Journey: A Shabbat With Springsteen
- The Shy Student: An Adventure in Shidduchim
- Just One Dance
- Believing and not believing – Parshas Noach
- Succos and Koheles
- Yom Kippur – Putting Our Mistakes Behind Us
- The Kingship of the Ten Days of Teshuva
- The Essence of the Month of Elul
- Beat the Rosh Chodesh Elul Rush – Start Thinking About Teshuva Today
- The Never Ending Road of the BT
- The Internet, The Smartphone and my Deepening Connection to Rabbi Uziel Milevsky ztâ€l
- A Yeshivish Fourth of July to All
- Earning a Living Doesn’t Have To Be Difficult
- How to Make a Bar Mitzvah and Actually Enjoy It
- Pirkei Avos from the Top
- PSSD: Post Shavuos Stress Disorder
- Attaining the Needs of Our Soul
- What’s Up With the Hardcore Jewish People?
- Embracing Bais Yaakov Dress Standards – Differences Between Mother and Daughter
- Sefiras Ha’Omer- Why We Count, What We Count
- Why American Jews Reject Torah – Some Pain, Not Much Gain
- Classic Ramban on “Be Holy” – “Don’t Be a Scoundrel with the Permission of the Torah”
- Should I Hide Being a BT?
- Kashrus and the BT
- Getting Beyond the Proofs
- Beginners Guide to the Passover Seder
- Gebroks or Non-Gebroks…That is the Question
- Pesach and The Essence of The Three Festivals
- Rosh Chodesh Nisan is Coming, a Good Time for Spiritual Pesach Preparation
- The 60 Second Guide to Purim
- American Pie Purim
- Purim – Rising Above Doubt
- Are We Too Focused on Doing Mitzvos?
- Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Schwartz, Zâ€l
- Rabbi Dovid Schwartz, ztzâ€l
- If you Really Want Unity, Stop Sleeping!
- Tu Bishvat – Eat some fruit! Enjoy life!
- Denying G-d and Denying Humanity
- The Natural, the Supernatural and the Counter-natural
- Searching for God in the Garbage
- One Nation, Indivisible
- Finding Hashem in the Darkness
- The Dyslexia of Teshuvah
- The Dreidel of Life
- Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman – ztzâ€l
- Vayeshev Yakov: Achieving True Jewish Unity Through a Divine Division of Labor
- Alternate Trajectories – Part 4
- Don’t Just Bless … Reverse the Curse
- Alternate Trajectories – Part 3
- Everyone Views Things Just As I Do…
- Utilizing The Power of Concentration
- Nothing is Perfect Until it’s Incomplete
- Alternate Trajectories – Part 2
- Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Scher, ztzâ€l
- Alternate Trajectories – Part 1
- Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller on Cheshvan: Facing the Ordinary
- Growing With Shnayim Mikra V’Echod Targum
- A Gourmands Approach to Sukkos
- Keep the Change
- Beyond Beinoni
- Ten Days of Repentance: A plan to plan
- Rosh Hoshana: Committing to the Plan
- The Selichot Experience In The Eyes Of A Ba’al Teshuvah
- Parents Cannot Be Their Childrens’ Friends
- The Lost Art of Teshuva
- Strike the First Blow and the Fix is In
- What Is The Most Important Thing That You Want In Life?
- Stepping Up Our Teshuva Early in Elul
- Musical Chairs – The Final Chapter – The Wedding
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8I – The Engagement Rituals
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8H – Rav Amram Helps Bring Clarity
- A Tisha B’av Kinah for Our Times
- Tens of Tisha B’Av Mp3s
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8G – A Big Surprise at the L’Chaim
- Learning to Get Along with People of Wildly Different Persuasions
- The 17th of Tammuz and Mishnah Berurah Hilchos Shabbos
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8F – Meeting Rahely and New Complications
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8E – Dropping the Shadchan
- Moishe Bane is Striving to Put Spirituality Back on the Orthodox Map
- Getting to Know Your Thoughts
- The Downside of Spirituality
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8D – Asher Has a Great First Date
- Time, Space and Soul
- The Essence of Our Existence and the Six Constant Mitzvos
- Lag Ba’omer, Rebbe Akivah, and Kabbalah
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8C – A New Shidduch is Proposed
- Conquering Bad Religious Experiences
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8B – A New Zman and A New Possibility
- Beyond BT Guide to the Passover Seder
- Structure of Maggid According to the Malbim
- Uncle Martzi – The Son Who Wanted to Come Back
- How I Learned to Stop Complaining and Love Yom Tov
- Beyond Observance
- There Are no Lightweights or Heavyweights … Only Half-Weights
- Musical Chairs – Chapter 8a – The Cystoscopy
- Aish Appreciation
- Can a BT Earn the Right to Coast?
- Purim, the BT and Unity
- Seven Ushpizin…then Shmini Atzeres
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Rabbi Yakov Horowitz (Monsey)Rabbi Herschel Welcher (Kew Gardens Hills)
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Guest ContributorsAkiva (Eretz Yisroel)
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