Mendel Kaplan

The reconciliation of whether the Resurrection of the Dead is only for those buried in Israel or for all our people regardless where they were interred, is to be found in a tunneling concept called Gilgul Mechilot, which may be an ancient allusion to mode...

There seems to be a Torah tradition linking the future Resurrection of the Dead exclusively to those buried in Israel. The obvious question is what about people buried elsewhere?! In this Talmud class, we explore this and other mysterious issues related t...

In these intermediate level classes you will learn to understand the unique give-and-take style of Talmudic discussion. This series studies the end of Tractate Ketubot (folio 111a), which discusses the Resurrection of the Dead-- the fundamental Jewish bel...

Health Deterioration can rob people of their happiness and impair their ability to enjoy accumulated wealth and material possessions, for money can’t buy health. Trusting in Hashem’s goodness grants a purposeful perspective on sickness and suffering that ...

Rabbeinu Bachaya maintains that ultimately all earthly powers seek to dominate, control or even harm us, and only full Bitachon can free us from fearing them. People, animals and even inanimate objects may threaten our wellbeing, yet if we place total tru...

The "Person of Faith" lives with a true sense of inner peace—fully relying on G-d for his needs, and has absolute trust that Hashem will sustain and provide for him. Rabbeinu Bachaya frames this idea of G-d being the sole source of sustenance across the f...

Ironically the “lucky one” possessing keys to unlocking quick riches is always anxious and forever looking over his shoulder, trusting no one. Conversely those living with trust in Hashem experience inner peace and is absolved of worries, anxiety and conc...

Rabbeinu Bachaya returns to contrasting the peace of mind and tranquility attained by the alchemist with the person who has attained absolute trust in Hashem. Despite the latter's relatively easy quick-get-rich schemes, the reality of every vocation's occ...

Our mandate to strive towards greater trust in Hashem was taught to us in the infancy of our nationhood with the decades-long manna miracle. To highlight the incredibly good fortune of achieving absolute Bitachon, we move forward into the life and times o...

We continue to frame Bitachon's benefits by means of a medieval metaphor. Yet, as it turns out, the person possessing real trust in Hashem has even less to worry about than one who could magically transform cheap materials into precious metals. In fact, t...