Do you have unhealthy dependencies? Can you give up your smart phone, luxury car, and golf clubs, or have you grown too dependent to let them go? Have you given them power over you?
I am not actually advocating that we give them away. I don’t feel guilty for enjoying the …
Tazria: Fix Me Don’t Break Me
A Typical Exchange
With more than twenty years in the rabbinate I have seen my share of painful human interactions and have become an observer of human nature. I find that two thigs often happen when people berate each other. First, the berator comes on too strong to be heard. Second, …
Shmini: Bribe Yourself
The Bribe
This scene has probably played out in every family home. You are going to a wedding and don’t want to be late. But your children couldn’t care less and take their merry time getting ready. At your wits end, you do what any desperate parent does; you offer a …
Purim: The Divine Curveball
The Curveball
Can you believe its almost April? With the baseball season only days away, my mind turns to my non existent curveball. You see, the curveball is one of the many reasons I will never be a pitcher. My curveball just doesn’t curve. I can throw it straight, fast or …
Pekudei: Having A Bad Day?
Looking Up
If your life is anything like mine, then you have good days and bad. Days when you feel like G-d is on your side and days when nothing seems to go right. When you are in the midst of a full blown bad day, you just want to go …
Shabbat Zachor: Memory Is A Bridge
Remember
Can you imagine driving down the street and suddenly realizing that you forgot where you are coming from? If you don’t know where you are coming from, you can’t know where you are going or why. Severed from the past, the present has no bridge to the future.
Ki Tisa; Don’t Fix It
If It Ain’t Broke
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, is a pithy saying from the American South The idea is that if something has a track record of success, don’t tinker with it.
Over the last few decades, the words ‘Jewish continuity’ has become a catchphrase. What can we do …
Vayakhel: Right Down The Middle
One Long Rod
Baseball training begins this week and you know what that means. Everyone is waiting for the fastball right down the middle. Pitchers hope it will blow right by the batter and strike him out. Hitters hope to slap it right out of the ball park. Balls thrown inside …
Tetzaveh: No Name Brand
When The Ship Goes Down
Do you pay extra for a name brand? Some do, personally, I don’t. If the no name brand is of the same quality as the name brand, I am quite happy with it. The name is for others. The brand is for me. Sometimes the no …
Parsha Insights »
Ekev: Sacred Stones
Failed Resolutions
Have you ever made a resolution you didn’t keep?Have you ever resolved to go to bed early only to wake up with a headache because you didn’t put that book down? Have you ever resolved not to take a second helping, but walked away engorged because your portions were …
Yearly Cycle »
New Year Greeting: Growing Up
New Year Greeting: Growing Up
A new year is upon us. One year chases another, one decade follows the next. Our lives unfold, our circumstances evolve, but how about us? Do we grow as well or are we stinted in our spiritual and emotional growth?
Concepts »
Shoftim: Dying for Life
A Horrible Dilemma
A little boy steps into the path of an oncoming train. The child can be rescued, but the rescuer would likely forfeit his life. How do the parents decide who should die to save the child and should should live to raise him?
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 …
