Noach: When We Ask, G-d Listens
A man once petitioned Rabbi Nosson of Breslov for a blessing to find his match. He complained that he had been seeking the right woman for many years and had still not found her. Rabbo Nosson discerned that he was slipping into despair, so …
A Unique Rosh Hashanah
Is it Rosh Hashanah again?
Last Rosh Hashanah was thirteen months ago, but it seems like almost yesterday. There was a time when a year loomed eternal, but as I grow older, and I’m sure you relate to this, the years grow shorter and shorter; they take less and less time …
Vayelech: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Where Did He Go?
The first words of our parshah, “And Moshe went and spoke to the sons of Israel.” Where did he go? Taking into account that this parshah is read between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur the commentaries suggest that he went to inspire Jews to repent. No …
Nitzavim: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Unity of Parts
“You stand firmly today, All together [as one], the heads of your tribes, elders, guards… young children, women, converts…” This verse begins by emphasising the unity of the gathering, they stood together [as one], then it enumerates the distinctions between the classes gathered on that day.
Unity is …
Ki Tavo- Food for Thought at Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Humbling Fruit
“When you will come to the country that G-d . . . has given you and you will inherit it and settle in it.” Is Israel a gift from G-d or a land that we have inherited and settled in our own right? This question lies at the …
Ki Teze: Food for Thought for your DinnerTable
Sunday: Internal Conflict
“When you go out to war against your enemies and G-d will deliver him into your hands.” There are two anomalies in this verse. First, why does the Torah use the phrase, “go out to war” when it would be sufficient to say go to war? Second, why …
Shoftim: Food for Thought for your Dinner Table
Sunday: Local Judges
“Judges and guards you shall set for yourself at all your gates.” Judges were placed at the gates of every Jewish community both inside Israel and outside. Why were the Jews from abroad not brought to Israel for trial? Why were courts established outside of Israel?
A judge must …
Unity – A Mile High
A Celebration of Unity
The Democratic Party has recently held a deeply emotional convention with an overriding theme of party unity. Coming off a highly charged primary campaign that was both hostile and divisive, campaign aides and party leaders identified their primary task as mending the fissure and reuniting the party.
Events …
Shadows and Light
It was one of those frustrating mornings when the sun seemed unable to decide whether to shine or not. It was quite frustrating, you know sunglasses on, sunglasses off, I’m sure you have all been there. The sunshine brings joy to the heart, the promise of a day that looms …
Parsha Insights »
Vaetchanan: A Jewish Right to A Jewish Land
Let It Be
The Rebbe of Gur was visited by an official of the British Mandate. In the course of conversation the official informed the Rebbe that the British were poised to move out and leave Israel to the Jews. The Rebbe’s reply was a Yidishism – “Mi-Chi-Teise,” an idiom loosely …
Yearly Cycle »
Sukkot: Can We Top Yom Kippur
The Nature of Return
It happened once on the day after Yom Kippur that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchack Shneerson, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad asked his father, Rabbi Sholom Ber, “what now?” How do we top the pinnacle of holiness that we experienced on Yom Kippur? His father replied, “Now the work …
Concepts »
Chanukah: Menorah on Masada
Mass Suicide
When you climb to the top and hike to the back you will discover a giant Chanukah Menorah on Masada and you have to wonder why. What is the connection between the story of Chanukah and the fortress of Massada? To answer this question we must go back to …
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 …
