When G-d disciplines us, the pain is real—but it is born of love. When He gives freely, we feel His kindness. When He withholds or corrects, His love is less visible—but in truth, it runs even deeper.
Read the full story »Devarim: Torah in Chinese
Translating Torah
Thirty – seven days before his passing Moses set out to teach the Torah. You might think that Moses would use his remaining weeks to teach hitherto unrevealed mysteries, but he did no such thing. Instead he translated the Torah into seventy languages. (1)
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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 …
Ninth of Av: A positive Perspective
Past and Future
During the upcoming Hebrew month of Tamuz, Jews around the world will observe a three-week semi mourning period marking the destruction of the ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
It has been close to two thousand years since the destruction of the Temple and every year on this day Jews …
Days of Mourning
A Kind Suffering
The Hebrew word Chessed, kindness, has a numeric value of seventy-two. Kabbalah teaches that the last seventy-two days of the Hebrew calendar year are permeated with Chessed, divine benevolence. This period begins on the seventeenth day of the Hebrew month, Tamuz.
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Tishah B’av:The Silver Lining
Asaf’s Perspective
On the ninth day of the Hebrew month Av, we fast and mourn as we mark the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash in the year 69 CE. A story is told of Asaf, a Levite and the choirmaster at the holy temple. He was renowned for his music and …
D’varim: Human Initiative and Divine Inspiration
The Fifth Book
The first four books of the Torah are presented, as a narrative by G-d, the fifth book, Devarim, is a narrative by Moses.
According to one opinion that Moses first conveyed his message to the Jewish people orally and was later commanded by G-d to transcribe the words and …
D’varim: Eternal Commitment
A Shabbat of Vision
The Shabbat before the ninth of Av goes by the name Shabbat of vision, so called in honor of Isaiah’s vision that is recorded in the Haftorah chanted on this Shabbat. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Bardichev (1740-1810) taught that on this Shabbat of vision the Jewish soul …
D’varim: The Lover’s Rebuke
This week we begin to read the book of Deuteronomy. In reading this book we develop a profound respect for leaders such as Moses. Standing on the verge of death Moses prepared to bid his people farewell. He leaves them his final will and testament.
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Parsha Insights »
Tetzveh: Good to the Last Drop
Are you a first drop or a last drop kind of person? When you squeeze an olive, the first drop is the purest, the last drop is extracted from the dregs. A first drop kind of person, is a perfectionist; one who strives for purity and the best in all …
Yearly Cycle »
The Nerve and The Miracle
I met a lovely young lady by the name of Chana Libah. She is a remarkable person and an amazing optimist. She had suffered multiple tumors and was in recovery from her latest bout. Chana Libah, undergoing a treatment regiment that would break a lesser person, spoke of her
travails with …
Concepts »
Vaera: The Great Escape
The entire Jewish ordeal in Egypt was an effort to escape. What were they escaping from?
The minutia of mundane pleasures. The Jewish people were singled out to receive the Torah at Sinai. They were poised to climb to the precipice, to scale the greatest spiritual heights, but they were trapped …
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 …
