When we are jealous, we measure our value by others’ success. We can’t be like others. We were born to be ourselves. When we accept that limitation, we begin to shine.
Read the full story »Beshalach: The Trust Test
Trust is a fickle thing. It is hard to build and it can shatter in a moment. Once shattered, it is painstaking to rebuild. If this is true of trust between people, how much more so trust in G-d?
The Torah tells us about a trust event that occurred in the …
Bo: The Army
Every country has an army, and every army serves a country. The question is who is in charge, the army or the country?
You see, militaries are tricky things. On the one hand, they give the country power and stability, on the other hand, they can easily assume power. This is …
Vaera: G-d is in Control
G-d is in control, is a mantra I have long lived with, but it came into sharp relief in the recent past. Last week, my family and I emerged from quarantine. Everyone in our household tested positive for COVID and thank G-d, we all recovered. We are most grateful for …
Shemot: Diaspora Judaism
Diaspora Judaism has been a problem for the community of nations from time immemorial. It is a unique phenomenon that only the Jew has experienced. Exiled from our country for nearly two thousand years, we stubbornly refused to assimilate and to dissipate. We clung tenaciously to our Jewish identity and …
Vayechi: To Be Alive
Are you among the living or are you alive? To be among the living means that we are breathing, and functioning—we are not dead, but neither are we fully alive. To be alive means to pulsate with the energy of life. To be fully attuned to life.
After Jacob, our patriarch, …
Vayigash: Stuck in Lockdown?
Lockdown is a word with which we have sadly become all too familiar. Many countries around the world have experienced a second wave of COVID and implemented various forms of lockdown. Ontario in Canada just announced its own lockdown and as I write I am looking at 28 long days …
Chanukah: The Unstable Flame
Oils that produce an unstable flame may not be used for Shabbat candles because Shabbat candles must be stable and pleasant. An unstable flame that rises and dips, a flame that is constantly on the verge of extinction causes anxiety and Shabbat candles are meant to be peaceful and pleasing.
However, …
Vayishlach: Have you ever Been Kissed?
Let me say this right up front: Have you ever been kissed, is not a question you expect to hear from a rabbi in a devar Torah. But I do mean the question sincerely, were you ever kissed? I’m not asking if you were ever kissed by your parents, grandparents, …
Parsha Insights »
Shmini: What to Say on a Shiva Visit
Awkward
A Shiva visit can be awkward. Should you sit quietly or say something wise, should you offer to help or just offer a comforting hug? Most people don’t know what to do and devise creative solutions. Some give the mourner a quiet hug and a grave sigh before retreating to …
Yearly Cycle »
Shavuot: Stay Another Day
Stay another day is a chant we hear from our children when a magical, wonderful vacation comes to an end. We don’t want to leave, they exclaim. This is so beautiful; we want to stay another day.
We all have that experience when a wonderful vacation comes to an end. It …
Concepts »
Noah: Money is Just a Tool
The Olive Symbol
The flood had lasted for forty days and forty nights. The rainfall and water surges were relentless, nothing and no one was spared, even the mountaintops were flooded. But the rains tapered off and the waters receded. The ark, adrift on an endless ocean, floated aimlessly for months.
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Rabbi’s Desk »
What Can We Do?
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
