Rabbi Shaanan Gelman

Parshat Nitzavim – 5779 Rabbi Shaanan Gelman The Little Things that Kill Professor Robert Kelly is one of the foremost authorities on politics within the Korean Peninsula.   He had been gearing up for what was likely the highest profile story of his career as a talking head.   It was March of 2017, the Korean President, Park Geun-Hye had just been impeached, found guilty of abuse of power and coercion, and he, Robert Kelly would have the first crack at disseminating the story to the English-speaking world.   The interview was viewed by close to 40,000,000 people worldwide – it was one of the most viral videos of 2017 and of all time. Yet who among us recalls watching it?   Perhaps you’ll recall seeing the video when I fill in a few more details.   Prof. Kelly is seen on the center of the screen when suddenly, his daughter, Marion, waltzes into the room wearing a bright yellow shirt and continues to do a little jig until she is right next to her father.   As Kelly attempts, in

Parshat Ki Teitze – 5779 Rabbi Shaanan Gelman Returning Lost Faith My driveway has space for two cars at its end.   My wife typically parks her minivan on the right side, and I park on the left side.   If ever one of us encroach too far over the imaginary line in the center it becomes much more cumbersome and difficult chore to navigate in and out of the spot.   The other day I pulled up to the house, prepared to veer to the left into my customary spot when I noticed that the van was over the line by a good foot or two.   Now, being that it is the month of Elul and I want to work on my middos I resolved to myself to not say a word…what an incredible show of restraint and self-control, I thought to myself. Anyway, the day went on, and I had to pull out of the driveway several times as the van remained parked – and each time I had to fight the urge to express my frustration.   Each time, I heroically overcame the yetzer hara . At the end of the day, we were headed out togeth

Critical Conversations Parshat Shoftim - 5779  Rabbi Shaanan Gelman with Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky It was a busy Friday afternoon two weeks ago at the “Sharonim” mall in Hod HaSharon, Israel. A young man named Yisrael Hirsch [1] was minding his own business and complete his pre-Shabbos shopping, when he claims a woman began harassing him verbally. It didn’t stop there; in a video that has since gone viral, Hirsch described what happened. “Something like this has never happened to me before. Apparently, because I am dressed as a Chareidi, someone permitted herself to nearly run me over with her vehicle and scream at me, ‘draft dodger, leave our country!’” The irony is that this alleged attacker picked on the wrong person! Yisrael Hirsch is one of the   growing numbers of Chareidim who enlist in the IDF annually. He served served a full tour of duty as a paratrooper and is now a commander in the elite Charuv Reconnaissance Unit, serving as an Army Rabbi. I can’t help but won