Articles in Concepts
You Are Good
The Chanukah lights broadcast a simple message: you are good. Sometimes we think that if we lose our job, our relationships fail, we succumb to addiction, or are plagued by obsessions, if we are afflicted by doubts and insecurity, if we are sensitive and easily hurt, if we are manipulative …
The Human Struggle
Life is a long human struggle. Animals don’t struggle. For them, life is simple. They have only one objective. To live and perpetuate their kind. Humans have an entire wrestling match. To be human is to struggle. To be human is to strive for kindness, compassion, devotion, honesty, justice, loyalty, …
Jewish Pride in Times of Despair
When G-d told Abraham to travel from the home he had built in Haran to Israel, he and Sarah gathered their household and went. Who were the members of their household? The Torah tells us that it was Lot, their nephew, and the souls they had made in Haran.
Who were …
Noach: Believe in Yourself
Believe in yourself is a common mantra these days, but it is sadly not as common in real life. Though we live in an age of unprecedented success and prosperity, too many people are mired in misery, insecurity, and negative self concepts.
Though every child has a reach through social media …
Loving talk
Loving talk is not only G-d’s preferred language; it is built into the very fabric of creation.
“In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was astonishingly empty . . . And G-d said, let there be light. G-d saw that the light was good and …
Freedom of Thought
Freedom of thought is a G-d given right. In communist and socialist countries, the individual is made to cede to the collective. In dictatorships the collective is compelled to cede to the dictator. But this is not what G-d intended for us humans. G-d intended for us to have freedom …
A Life of Seasons
When I lived in California people complained that they missed the seasons. I always wondered about that. Having come from the East Coast, I often told them that if they were looking seasons, I could tell them exactly where to find it. They came to California for sunshine so why …
A Shabbat Fast
It is forbidden to fast on Shabbat. In fact, if we fast on Shabbat (even with halachic sanction) we must fast on a different day to atone for fasting on Shabbat. This is why the fast of Tishah Be’av—the ninth of Av, is postponed when it falls on Shabbat —as …