A Measure of Truth: Volume 6, Issue 35,Eikev

August 1, 2026; 18 Av, 5786 Sponsored anonymously for the Refuah Shleimah of Yair Nissan Ben Sara

In the 14th century of Seville, Spain, there was a famous Sephardic commentator named Rabbeinu Dovid Abudraham, who wrote a classic commentary on the Siddur and Jewish liturgy. How did he come to be called Abudraham? The name is unusual, even among Sephardic Jews, and there is a story behind it.

Rabbeinu Dovid was a merchant. Whatever he sold, customers would pay him, and he would measure out the merchandise by weight. In those days, scales were much less precise than they are today, and people did not use pounds, ounces, kilos, or grams. In his country, the unit of weight was called a dram. When a customer ordered 10 drams, Rabbeinu Dovid would not weigh all 10 at once. Instead, he weighed one dram at a time, adding a little extra with each measure to ensure that he never came close to taking what was not his. He repeated this added measure for every dram he sold...

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The Price of Saving a Soul: Volume 6, Issue 34, Va'eschanan

July 25, 2026; 11 Av, 5786 Sponsored anonymously for the Refuah Shleimah of Yair Nissan Ben Sara

The biography of the Klausenberger Rebbe ZT”L paints a stark picture of the Rebbe's first years in America, when he was laboring to rebuild his shattered institutions from the ashes of Europe. In the early 1950s, his poverty was so crushing that one Purim he did not have even the three half-dollar coins customarily given for Machatzis HaShekel before the Megillah reading. Only after tremendous effort—when an early Shalach Manos arrived which he was able to sell—was he able to fulfill his obligation. That poverty forms the backdrop to the remarkable story that follows.

A wealthy philanthropist, renowned throughout America for his generous support of Yeshivos, was brought before the Rebbe. Those who arranged the meeting hoped—perhaps desperately—that he would extend his largesse to the Rebbe’s She'eiris HaPleitah institutions as well. The Rebbe received him with warmth and dignity, inquiring after his health and affairs. The man, speaking innocently, described how successful his business had become: it now demanded almost nothing of him, leaving his days free for travel, vacations, and playing cards...

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A Bar of Chocolate: Volume 6, Issue 33, Devarim

July 18, 2026; 4 Av, 5786 Sponsored anonymously for the Refuah Shleimah of Yair Nissan Ben Sara

I (Rabbi Fischel Schachter) once went to be Menachem Avel (comfort a mourner) at the home of a truly remarkable family, a family whose very walls seemed to breathe Chesed (kindness). Their mother had just passed away, leaving behind a legacy of quiet greatness: a life lived with simplicity, honesty, and dignity, even though she had been blessed with considerable means.

The mother was not merely generous; she was Ehrlich (genuinely sincere). She learned Yiddish so she could understand the Meshulachim (charity collectors) who knocked at her door—not only their words, but their pain. Together, she and her husband built a home rooted in Torah, choosing simplicity when comfort was easily within reach. Shabbos after Shabbos, they prepared and packed food for orphans with their own hands. Wealth never softened their sense of responsibility, nor did it diminish their humility...

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