By Rabbi Moshe Dov Heber
Simchas Torah in Waterbury is beautiful in multiple ways. So many of our homegrown bochurim are home sharing their Simchas Torah with their families and the children of the community. All our shuls are packed with guests who have come to join in the Simchas Torah of a young and vibrant community.
On the morning of Shemini Atezres we read in Koheles “There is a time for war and a time for peace.” We started hearing the reports of the terrible tragedies in Eretz Yisroel. Following davening, there was an announcement and Tehillim was said with fervor for our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel. It meant something, but yet at the same time it felt so distant.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
A basic human desire is to be happy. There is no one in this world who doesn’t seek joy. The goal is the same, though different people have different ways of going about achieving that goal.
Though we seek to bring joy into each day and the Torah demands that we be joyous in our service of Hashem, Yomim Tovim are singled out as periods of joy, when one of the obligations of the day is “vesomachta bechagecha,” to be happy. While that is so for all Yomim Tovim, Sukkos has the distinction of being a particular time of happiness and Chazal define the chag as “Zeman Simchoseinu – Our Joyous Period.”

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By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
In Yeshivas Radin, there was a break before the blowing of the shofar on the morning of Rosh Hashanah to afford the mispallelim an opportunity to prepare themselves for the great mitzvah.
Unfortunately, several bochurim used the time to check out the goings on at the local shuls. They returned to yeshiva and were discussing their findings near the door to the bais medrash, when the Chofetz Chaim, wrapped in his tallis, entered to deliver his pre-shofar shmuess. He picked up pieces of their conversation and moved along without making any comment.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
As we near the end of Elul, we should be ramping up our efforts at doing teshuvah, rectifying our errors and setting ourselves on the proper path for the future. This week’s parsha of Nitzovim is enlightening and helpful in our quest.

Dear Editor @Matzav.com,
I write this letter with a sense of deep frustration, disappointment, and even anger over the recent school scheduling debacle that has plagued our mosdos. While I cannot speak to the situation in the NY school system, as I don’t live there, I can certainly attest to the absolute chaos that unfolded here in New Jersey due to a nearly four-week gap between the start dates of boys’ and girls’ schools, along with the inexplicable “soft openings” – another disgrace – for boys. Such a course of action is nothing short of abhorrent and utterly unacceptable.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
I never learned at Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin, but have a special place for it in my heart. My relationship began when, as a young teenager, a mispallel in my father’s shul told me that he was going to take me to hear a ma’amar from his rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Hutner, the rosh yeshiva of that yeshiva.
From outward appearances, Reb Matis Greenblatt was a simple baal habayis, but even at that young age, I had come to respect him as a talmid chochom with a wide-ranging knowledge and deep understanding of Torah. He had a special neshomah and always spoke of his rebbi, “the rosh yeshiva.”

Exactly a century ago, on the 9th of Elul 5683 (1923), Rav Meir Shapiro took the podium at the Knessiah Gedolah in Vienna. An air of anticipation permeated the room as he began his speech.
At 36 years old, Rav Shapiro possessed a captivating charm, a sharp wit, and was celebrated globally as an orator. His rabbinical journey had led him through diverse locales in Poland and Galicia, such as Piotrkov and Lublin, while his involvement with Agudas Yisroel and advocacy for Polish Jewry’s needs in the Sejm remained notable.
In this moment, Rav Shapiro proposed an innovative concept that aimed to unite the global Jewish community around the study of the Daf Yomi – a single folio of the Talmud Bavli  each day. He invoked Rabi Akiva’s narrative to illustrate his idea.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
In this week’s parsha of Ki Seitzei, we learn about fighting evil. We learn about going to war against enemies, about putting to death a thirteen-year-old boy for exhibiting behavior that indicates a bad future, and about remembering what Amaleik did to our people many years ago and the obligation to hate them for it until this very day. We learn about the eternal battle between good and evil and our role in that conflict.