By Ira Stoll
“Hebrew is by no means the only language that has been the target of calls for change,” the New York Times concedes somewhere in the middle of a long article about Hebrew. “Many world languages, like French, make every noun either masculine or feminine. And the United Nations has issued guidelines for nondiscriminatory communications in the six official languages of the organization: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.”
So if French and other languages are the same way, why does the Times bother devoting a whole long news article — illustrated online with seven photographs — to a kerfuffle over gender in Hebrew? Maybe because an article about French wouldn’t provide the opportunity to bash Orthodox Jews.

Dear Editor@Matzav.com,
I am very disturbed by ads that I see on Matzav.com and elsewhere for movies and films for Tisha B’Av. At least in years past, the programs were speeches related to Tisha B’Av. Now, we’re inundated with movies of all types, on all topics, as if they have to do with Tisha B’Av. Are we so pathetic? Have we so lost our understanding of Tisha B’Av? The only thing we’re missing is the popcorn.
As someone wrote so well, perhaps it’s time we just arrange hotel programs for Tisha B’Av, with babysitting, a lineup of speakers, and maybe even a magician. That’s basically where we are holding.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
When you walk into a room where people are sitting shivah, the atmosphere is heavy and sad. Not a word is exchanged. Then a menachem, a comforter, walks into the room. Initially, the people on the low chairs look up at their visitor with sad eyes. Then they slowly come alive, sharing stories of their departed loved one, exchanging reminiscences. “What do you remember?” they ask. “What can you share?” They then accept words of chizuk as expressed in the eternal phrase of nechomah: HaMakom yenacheim es’chem.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
On Friday, we usher in the month of Av, which conjures up so many bitter collective memories. On Shabbos, we lain the parshiyos of Mattos and Masei, which discuss the travels of the Jewish people in the desert. And then, when done, we call out to ourselves and each other, “Chazak, chazak, venischazeik – Let us be strong.”
The experience of the Jewish people ever since our founding has been full of hills and valleys, ups and downs, times of great tragedy and times of great deliverance, periods of enormous destruction and periods of tremendous growth.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
The heart refuses to accept and the hand cannot write what the mind is trying to process. A young rosh yeshiva, scion to a royal family and traditions, groomed his entire life for the position he attained and was excelling in, was suddenly taken from us. Widely respected and beloved, his tragic passing has left so many gasping in sadness and grasping for support.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
It is a well-worn truism that people hear what they want to hear. People can be having a conversation about a specific topic, and each participant will take have a different understanding of the conversation. Each one will think that the other person said something different from what he said. Based on prior experiences and biases, people inflect and arrive at conclusions that they are convinced are the truth, without recognizing that they totally misconstrued what the other fellow was saying.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
In this week’s parsha, we learn about the parah adumah, the purely red cow, whose ashes are used in the purification process of people who became tomei by being in contact with a lifeless body. How does it work? We don’t know. Not only don’t we know, but the Torah tells us that the reason for this mitzvah and how it works is beyond our comprehension. It is a chok.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
It was, in a sense, the first gathering of the Bnei Yisroel, the twelve pillars of our nation surrounding the bedside of their father. Yaakov Avinu looked at each of his sons in turn, focusing on their gifts and challenges, studying their destiny, before bestowing the brachos and tefillos that would accompany them and their progeny for eternity.
When he looked at Levi, Yaakov foresaw a road with some bumps, but one that led to the loftiest of callings, the right to serve in Hashem’s earthly home, standing guard over the Bais Hamikdosh and its sacred keilim.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
It is interesting that as we enter the period of the most enjoyable weather, following the Yom Tov of Shavuos which celebrates Matan Torah, for several weeks we lain parshiyos that depict unfortunate behavior by the Jews in the desert.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
While I was in Eretz Yisroel last week, I came across a pithy saying I had never seen before. In Hebrew, on a keychain in a store in Zichron Yaakov that doesn’t cater to tourists, it said that wealth is achieved when you have everything that money can’t buy.
I had the good fortune to spend ten days in Eretz Yisroel from before Shavuos until Motzoei Shabbos.
Being there was refreshing, invigorating, and an opportunity to recharge my spiritual reserves through learning, connecting with my rabbeim, and being and davening in holy places.
When I’m in Israel, I get chizuk from watching people. Simple people. Good people. People who look holy and people who don’t.