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 »Shelach: A Talit Meditation
The Talit is a shawl that we wrap around ourselves during prayer. It has four corners, from each of which, hangs eight fringes. Everyday, before we wrap ourselves in the Talit, we separate each fringe from the others and tighten the knots that bind them to the Talit.
As we run …
B’haalotcha: The Individualized Collective
An individualized collective is a collective that doesn’t require its members to surrender their individuality before joining the collective. On the surface, this sounds patently obvious; everyone ought to agree with it, right? Wrong. In real life it is very difficult to find the balance between the two. The great …
Naso: Give Your Fellow A Lift
Lift is an interesting word. In America, you give someone a lift, when you drive them to their destination. In England, it refers to an elevator. The British meaning makes more sense. A lift should lift you vertically; not transport you horizontally.
The concept of vertical lift is the subject of …
Shavuot: Ten Commandments of Parenting
The ten commandments of parenting is an appropriate topic to discuss in the days leading up to Shavuot, the day we received the Ten Commandments.
On several occasions the Torah casts us as G-d’s children and G-d as our parent. It therefore stands to reason that by studying the Ten Commandments, …
Bechukoti: Retroactive Sin
Sin is a terrible thing. First, it tempts me, then it punishes me. Why does G-d play this elaborate game with me? Why does He allow me to sin, and then punish me for having sinned?
I am not asking why He permits me to choose. I know the answer to …
B’har: To Be Happy
Happy is the farmer who learns to trust in G-d. When Jewish farmers in Israel let their fields lie fallow on the Sabbatical year, they leave their fate to G-d. How do they feed their families if they don’t plant all year? G-d instructs us not to worry about that …
Emor: Making Space for G-d
Making space for G-d is the name of the game during the season of the Omer. There are forty-nine days between Passover and Shavuot, and we enjoy and savor them all. We count each day as if it were a precious jewel as we prepare for the festival of Shavuot. …
Yom Hazikaron: We Remember
Sweeping vista
Lifeless plane
Victory hollow
Heart of pain
Land mass strewn
friend and foe
Lie forever
Battle throe
Sand storm rising
Sinai beckons
A soul asunder
Wanders, reckons
Patience try
Today on high
Was it worth it
An anguished sigh
A rising wave
A tidal crest
We won the war
We lost our best
Victory sweet
A price so steep
Oh please dear G-d
My brother keep
Sinai captured
Fires cease
Dead, secure
A lasting peace
Will …
Parsha Insights »
Hateful Speech And Elon Musk
Hateful Speech
Elon Musk has purchased Twitter and pledged to allow free speech within the limits of the law. Many people are upset about this and believe that any speech that makes someone feel uncomfortable should be curbed. They argue that unfettered speech on Twitter, will open the door to hateful …
Yearly Cycle »
Simchat Torah: The Dancing Souls
Saved By The Dance
It was a cold autumn day; the skies covered with the perpetual cloud of ash that hovered daily over Auschwitz. A group of fifty young Yeshiva students were herded into the gas chambers, ostensibly for a cold shower. This was well enough into the history of Auschwitz …
Concepts »
Korach: A True Debate
Political Debates
Election seasons are dramatic and engaging, but the candidate debates frustrate me. They resemble ancient gladiator battles, which make them entertaining, but they are not informative. In a true debate the purpose is finding the truth no matter who has it, in a political debate the purpose is scoring …
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 …
