If my memory serves me correctly – which it generally doesn’t these days – it was about 25 years ago that I typed and emailed a d’var Torah for the first time. This was back in the days when AOL and the ubiquitous “You got mail” ruled the email world.
A friend of mine who was learning in Eretz Yisrael at the time had emailed me a d’var Torah. It was the week of Parshas VaY’chi 1999, and I emailed back a d’var Torah I had written. I also emailed it to my parents and a few other friends and relatives.
That was the beginning of a lengthy essay parshah column that I disseminated each week. A friend of mine suggested that I call it “Stam Torah,” a takeoff of my last name.
Like many of my fellow millennials, the email address I set up in the late 1990s has stuck with me. Although I have a few different email addresses, my primary email remains This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. At the time, I didn’t think about how annoying it would be to tell people that my email address is spelled “stam” when my last name is Staum.
That column continued after I married my wife, attended graduate school, and through my early years as an educator and parent.
My family has been blessed to spend our summers at Camp Dora Golding in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania, where I am part of the camp administration. The drawback was that, as a shul rabbi, it wasn’t easy to be away from my k’hilah for two months.
To that end, in July 2011, I began writing a column I entitled “Rabbi’s Musings (and Amusings).” Originally, it was a platform to help me connect with my congregation through sharing some light yet inspirational and hopefully humorous observations and perspectives.
That column has continued unabated, just about every week since then. (This week’s column is Musings #795.)
Most of those columns have been posted weekly in the Queens Jewish Link. I am grateful to QJL for being the first publication to begin carrying my article weekly. Along the way, I began to post a Musings article from the archives in The Jewish Press, the Monsey Mevaser, and the New Jersey Jewish Link.
In 2011, I was invited to write a weekly column for Hamodia. It was entitled “Parshah Growth Spurts” and contained two-to-three divrei Torah on the parshah with a practical and poignant message. That column continued for almost three years.
A few years ago, I created something called “Parshah Pictures.” Every parshah (and Yom Tov) contains a collage of nine pictures, each of which is connected to that week’s parshah. The challenge is to decipher how each picture connects to the parshah. It’s a fun way to discuss the parshah with children (and adults) at the Shabbos table. Each collage also has a key that explains the connections.
Over the years, I have given a few rounds of parenting classes based on the acclaimed “Love and Logic” method. I have also given various other lectures on parenting and chinuch generally, including presenting at a few Torah Umesorah conventions.
Together with Dr. Yitzy Schechter, PsyD, I co-authored two pamphlets for parents: “Helping Children Deal with Anger” and “Communicating with Our Children.”
Dr. Shechter is a respected therapist and personal mentor, and it was an honor to collaborate with him on those projects.
I also wrote a series of parenting columns entitled “Power Parenting,” which were published in the Five Towns Jewish Home in 2015.
Over the years, I have worked on various other projects, including recording lectures of some esteemed colleagues that I have been fortunate to work with and learn from. In my weekly emails, I often attached some of these Torah thoughts, as well. I wrote them more for myself but shared them with my readers, as well.
There is a particular feeling of joy when publishing a professional book. In the last two years, I was blessed to publish two books. One was a Haggadah with my writings, including many novel thoughts and perspectives, called The Striving Higher Haggadah, published by Mosaica Press. The other is entitled Nostalgia for Eternity, published by Feldheim Publishers. It contains a collection of essays from lectures delivered by my rebbi, Rabbi Berel Wein.
I also maintain two WhatsApp groups. The first, called “Striving Higher,” is a forum for my weekly divrei Torah and other lectures I give. Most of those are also uploaded to TorahAnytime, where I, baruch Hashem, have over 900 posted lectures.
The second group is called “Heichal Avrohom.” It was started this past summer in memory of Rabbi Avi (Avraham) Oberlander zt”l, a distinguished colleague who tragically passed away a few months ago. I post brief but powerful ideas based on the siddur a few times a week.
Those recordings are taken from the manuscript of my biggest project to date, the Striving Higher Siddur. It contains an all-new translation and insights for the weekday davening. Its main objective is to inspire its user to feel more connected to the timeless words of t’filah. The groundwork for the siddur was done by the acclaimed Alei Zayis in Lakewood. The siddur will be published by Mosaica Press, hopefully within the next year.
In conversation with my rebbi, Rabbi Berel Wein, on a couple of occasions he suggested that I collect my writings and other published material, including audio lectures, and produce a website.
It took considerable time and effort but, thanks to Hashem, I am gratified and excited to announce the launch of my new website: StrivingHigher.com.
It contains all the columns mentioned above, plus a lot more. It is also a work in progress, with more material being added constantly, im yirtzeh Hashem, and hopefully other enhancements in the near future.
I am extremely grateful to Vascad Marketing and my student Chaim Honikman for producing the website (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). If you visit the website, you will likely be quite impressed with its high quality and professionalism.
Chanukah is a time of celebration of our steadfast dedication to Torah. I pray that this website will inspire and help its visitors connect with the timeless words of our most sacred commodity.
I hope my distinguished readers will visit the website and enjoy its varied content. Please feel free to convey feedback, including any suggestions and critiques. Please share the website with those you think could benefit from it. Most of all, I pray that it helps us all always to be Striving Higher.
Rabbi Dani Staum, LMSW, is a popular speaker, columnist, and author. He is a rebbe at Heichal HaTorah in Teaneck, NJ. and principal of Mesivta Orchos Yosher in Spring Valley, NY. Rabbi Staum is also a member of the administration of Camp Dora Golding. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and at www.strivinghigher.com.
