We all have two dimensions: the inner wholesome, beautiful self that is a fount of integrity, honesty, determination, and love. Then we have the outer fractured self that is filled with cravings, greed, lust, flightiness, envy, unhealthy competitiveness, bias, anger, resentment, insecurity, etc. The goal is not only to transition …
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Four Redemptions
When G-d informed Moses of the exodus from Egypt he provided four descriptions of the coming redemption. “I will bring them out from under the burdens of Egypt. I will save them from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and I will take you to …
When Grief Debilitates
This Shabbat is all about comfort. After commemorating the destruction of both Jewish Temples this Tuesday, we are in a state of grief and in significant need of comfort. Yet the question is how does one find comfort after such immense grief? If we find it difficult to …
High Holiday Greetings
We embark on a new year with excitement and trepidation. What does the new year hold for us, will it be good or bad, healthy or ill, happy or sad?
We look back to years past and know that life is a mixed bag, some years were better than …
King Solomon famously wrote, “Stolen waters are sweeter.”[1] By this, he meant that the moment something is forbidden to us, we lust after it. Not because we like it or enjoy it, but because we can’t have it. It is a quirk of human nature to be titillated by the …
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 …
