Korach, who resented direction, led a popular rebellion. Like all rebels he purported to take up the cause of the people. And like all rebels, his cause was neither real nor beneficial to the people.
Korach, “assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, …
Life Is Beautiful, Sh'lach L'chah, Tragedy »
Sh’lach: Bad News
Why is bad news so ubiquitous? Wherever we turn we seem to hear another piece of bad news. This one has cancer, that one broke an arm, another lost his job, and another’s home was flooded. Why is there so much bad news?
The truth is that there is much more good news than bad news, but we need to dig to find it. Cregg Easterbrook wrote a book called ‘It’s Better Than It Seems,’ in which he chronicles all the reasons why life, by any standard, is better today than it was twenty, let alone fifty, years ago. But we need to dig to find it. Gun violence is down, terrorism is down, pollution is down, poverty is down, by every metric (except for greenhouse gasses) life is better than ever. So why is there so much bad news? Read the full story »
B’haalotcha: Club Rules
The Hand-Book
When you first join a club, you obey all the club rules; you never make excessive noise and never smoke in public places. Yet, seniors at the club play fast and easy with rules, why is that? On your first day of high-school, you study the student-hand-book and …
Beha’alotcha: The Travel Codes
G-d developed travel codes in the desert to instruct the nation on when to gather and when to travel. There were approximately two million Jews traveling across the desert and it would have been impossible for a human voice to be heard over the din. G-d established a musical code …
Naso: To be Lifted
To celebrate the inauguration of the tabernacle, the Jewish tribal princes made several key contributions. Among them were four wagons and eight oxen to transport the sacred vessels across the desert. When the Jews would travel in the desert, the Levites would disassemble the tabernacle and transport it, using these …
Bamidbar: Count for Something
G-d instructed Moses to take a census of the Jewish people in the desert. In all, G-d told Moses to count the Jews three times in a forty-year period. Rashi, the famed eleventh century biblical commentator, explained that G-d counts the Jews because He loves them.[1]
This statement makes it sound …
B’har B’chukotai: True Freedom
Freedom is one of humanity’s fundamental goas. Ever since Moses trumpeted the call, “let my people go,” people the world over valued and treasured freedom. Yet we sometimes apply freedom too narrowly. When we see a person indentured into servitude we chafe at the unfairness of it. When we see …
Emor: Effective Perspective
Perspective is the key ingredient in life. Some people take the perspective that life owes them. Others take the perspective that no one owes them anything. The former, do nothing to help themselves, the latter do all that they can to help themselves. In our generation, too many are growing …
Acharei Mot Kedoshim: Chai to Life
We are all familiar with chai, the Hebrew word for life. Chai has a numeric value of eighteen, which is why it is common for Jews to donate to charity in multiples of eighteen. The Talmud tells us that charity saves us from premature death.[1] When we donate in multiples …
Tazria Mezora: Judging from Past Behavior
Past behavior is often a harbinger of the future, but to judge fairly we must consider the very latest episode of the past behavior. I was once at a wedding, where the groom’s elderly venerated teacher danced with vigor and joy, and his many students, their eyes sparkling with admiration …
Parsha Insights »
Bamidbar: Positive Thought
Is Optimism Naive?
Are you confident about the future? There are those who are frustratingly optimistic. No matter what the present, their faith in mankind, destiny and G-d’s basic commitment to goodness is unshakable. Others are more jaded. They look at the current state of affairs and take a dismal view …
Yearly Cycle »
Rosh Hashanah: The Child’s Cry
The story is told of a great rabbi who was up late at night deeply engrossed in Torah study together with his study partner. At that moment one of his partner’s children was awakened by a nightmare and began to cry. The rabbi, his concentration disturbed, arose from his studies …
Concepts »
Let Us Stop School Massacres
It is a terrible tragedy, a heinous scene, words cannot describe it and the camera dare not capture it. The grimace plastered on grim faces of devastated fathers, the haunted look in the eyes of howling mothers, children screaming, teachers herding, police officers protecting and the most horrific of all, …
Rabbi’s Desk »
Festival Shabbat: Show Respect
United Airlines
Social media is abuzz with the terrible story that occurred on United Airlines several days ago. Dr, Dao, a 69 year old physician on a flight from Chicago to Louisville, was physically dragged off a plane after being beaten by three police officers. The physician’s crime was refusing to …
