The Pesach Hagada – The Wise Son Returns to the Questions by Yakov Nagen (Genack)

“The Torah speaks of four children: One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple and one does not know how to ask.”       -   The Haggada The four children represent four different types of personalities. Because life is dynamic, each person, during the course of his or her lifetime, often incorporates aspects of all four of these [...]

“It is Better for Man Not To Have Been Created”: Seven Years to the Terror Attack in Yeshivat Otniel

by Yakov Nagen  During the course of the Shabbos meal of Parshat Shemot 5763 in the Hesder Yeshiva of Otniel, while the students danced and sang הודו לה’ כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, terrorists entered the kitchen and murdered the four boys who were preparing the next course: Noam Apter, Yehuda Bamberger, Gavriel Ho-ter, Zvika [...]

Prayer and Consciousness

Prayer and Consciousness Guest Post by Yakov Nagen (Genack) Each day we repeat our daily prayers and say more than a hundred blessings. This repetition of the same words day in and day out can be viewed as a tedious routine. However, there is another way to relate to this reality. What we are sorely [...]