Matot Masei: Unity in Good Times and Bad

Anxiety Brought us Together
Disaster is the parent of opportunity. When the normal and routine are shattered, when calm and confidence are shaken, the patterns of life are altered and new opportunities are born.

It remains to us to convert these opportunities into reality. It remains to us to grasp that, if we …

Passover: Journey Forth

Four Schools of Thought
As our ancestors stood poised before the Red Sea, an argument broke out and in true Jewish fashion there was more then one school of thought. The Midrash describes the four different schools of thought that prevailed. (a) Fatalism – Let’s drown ourselves in the sea (b) …

Family Life: The Mikvah

Water from the Garden of Eden
Immersion in a Mikvah, a ritual pool of water, releases man from
his imperfect state. When we emerge from the Mikvah we are reborn; the
imperfections and impurities of the past evaporate and we are permeated
with a fresh sense of renewal.

The Torah tells
us of a river that …

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 …