We will sit down to the Seder this year while our people suffer. Israel faces simultaneous attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran. More than a hundred Jews are still in captivity. Antisemitism is rampant and acceptable again in coffee shops, public squares, public schools, and college campuses.
The saga …
Devarim: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Seventy Languages
Why did Moshe translate the Torah into seventy languages when most Jews did not speak these languages? Hebrew is G-d’s tongue and is therefore a natural conduit for holiness. Accordingly, when studied in Hebrew the holiness of the Torah permeates our minds and hearts. Moshe, who gave us …
Masei: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Forty-Two Journeys
The Torah, usually so economical with words, outlines the forty-two journeys that our ancestors made across the desert. The Baal Shem Tov taught that this enumeration illustrates that we each travel through forty-two stations during the course of our lives.
The details of these stations are known to …
Matot: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: The Vow
The Mishnah encourages us to take oaths against sins toward which we are inclined because “vows promote abstinence.” The Jerusalem Talmud discourages use of vows to prohibit behaviors that the Torah permits because “G-d’s prohibitions should be sufficient.” Which is the correct approach?
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Pinchas: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Commensurate Reward
For slaying Zimri, the man who committed a sacrilegious act in public, Pinchas was rewarded with the High Priesthood. What is the connection between the act and its reward?
Jewish law stipulates that a priest forfeits his priesthood through murder. Pinchas would have known this when he slayed Zimri, …
Balak: Food For Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Instant Wrath
Fearful of the Jewish nation, the Moabite king Balak, sent word to Billam, “Behold a people has come from Egypt . . . and [now] sits opposite me.” Our sages taught that G-d is angry for a millisecond every day and Billam was able to identify that moment …
The Rebbe
This Shabbat marks the Yhartzeit (anniversary of passing) of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe. His interest and reach was truly global as the rebbe cared for every Jew. It is with this in mind that I offer this essay. I hope you will take a moment this coming …
The Rebbe and World Leaders
A Wedding
It was 1929 in Warsaw Poland. Thousands of Jewish dignitaries from both Western and Eastern European countries gathered for a special occasion; the Lubavitcher Rebbe would marry off his daughter to a young, unassuming, previously unknown scholar.
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Chukat: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: A Prototype
The Red Heifer is introduced with the words, “this is the decree of the Torah.” This is not the only decree of the Torah, but it is a microcosm of all the Torah’s decrees. The underlying purpose of every mitzvah is twofold: to uplift the person who performs …
Parsha Insights »
Chukat Balak: The Commandments
The Torah’s laws about how to purify oneself from ritual contamination can only be prevalent at a time when ritual contamination is possible. Ritual contamination occurs when a Jew comes in contact with a dead body. When the Mashiach comes, the prophetic promise that death will cease and all the …
Yearly Cycle »
Shemot : Heaven And Earth
There was a steep mountain pass just outside Premishlan that was impassable during the winter because of its treacherous icy conditions. The Chassidic master, Rabbi Meir of Premishlan, would navigate this pass on a regular basis. When asked for his secret he answered simply, “One who is bound to the …
Concepts »
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 …
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 …
