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.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Time marches along, too quickly it seems. It feels like it was only a couple of weeks ago that the weather warmed and summer was upon us. It was just yesterday that many were packing for camp and the country, looking forward to a slower pace of life with reduced pressures and time for travel, rest and relaxation. Those experiences are now rapidly coming to an end, as we welcome the month of Elul, which signifies seriousness as well as a return to school, yeshiva and our regular routines.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
With the Nine Days behind us, we are now in the depths of summer. Everyone is taking it easy. Many are on vacation, or in summer homes in the country, or taking little day trips, changing scenery and dialing everything down a couple of notches.
But the study of Torah continues. That obligation doesn’t fade, and the lessons we derive from the weekly parsha that we lain on Shabbos and study throughout the week are as strong as ever.
Parshas Eikev helps us as we continue our journey of solace through the Shiva Denechemta. In Moshe Rabbeniu’s final lesson to his people, Mishneh Torah, he reviews what they had learned and experienced during the previous forty years.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
I sit here on Sunday afternoon staring at the empty computer screen in front of me. There was a place I wanted to be, but I stayed home to write my weekly column, and now I sit here with nothing to show for it. It is the first day of “shovua shechal bo Tisha B’Av,” the week of Tisha B’Av, but the date of publication is Erev Shabbos Nachamu. As I sit here thinking of churban and sadness, I wonder what I can write that will have meaning.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
We are now in the saddest period of the year, a time when we observe halachos associated with mourning. They are not intended to become rote habits, but were instituted to remind us of the loss of our home, country, and spiritual base. The absence of meat, for example, is to teach a lesson and remind us that our lives are lacking.
We get comfortable and forget that there is a giant hole in our hearts and souls that must be filled. We have been away from home for so long that we tend to forget where home is and what it was all about. We forget that the lives that we lead here are lacking in many ways. We look around us and everything seems so perfect and good that we wonder what could be better than what we have now.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Rav Tzvi Schvartz is the type of tzaddik many believe doesn’t exist anymore. He heads the Lev L’Achim branch in Rechovot and, with his white beard, bright eyes, broad smile, ready words of encouragement and active support, has been bringing neshamos back to life for decades in that city.
He once shared with me a memorable lesson that he learned from Rav Elazar Shach. When Russian Jews were immigrating to Israel by the thousands, many were brought to Ulpanim in Rechovot, where they were taught basics of the Hebrew language and the Israeli culture. Rav Schvartz was put in charge of running classes on religion for the incoming Russians olim.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Here we are again in the period we call the Three Weeks, soon to be followed by the Nine Days and Tisha B’Av. We have gone another year without deserving that the Bais Hamikdosh be rebuilt. We are still in golus. Sometimes, golus is just a word, and it is used so often that it loses its meaning. We hear speeches about golus. Each speaker, in his or her own words, gets up and speaks about being in golus and the fact that we need to get out of golus.

The world’s 500 richest people added $852 billion to their fortunes in the first half of 2023.
Each member of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index made an average of $14 million per day over the past six months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It was the best half-year for billionaires since the back half of 2020, when the economy rebounded from a Covid-induced slump.
The gains coincided with a broad stock market rally, as investors brushed off the effects of central bank interest rate hikes, the ongoing war in Ukraine and a crisis in regional banks. The S&P 500 rose 16% and the Nasdaq 100 surged 39% for its best-ever first half as investor mania over artificial intelligence boosted tech stocks.

By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz
Parshas Chukas is one of the shortest sidros of the Torah, but it contains many messages for us that are especially poignant in our time. This year we have the added pleasure of also layening parshas Bolok this week, but we will concentrate our remarks on Chukas.
As the parsha begins with the laws of the parah adumah, it states, “Zos chukas haTorah – This is the decree of the Torah,” a mitzvah for which there is no reason given.