Do you peddle in relative truths, or are you a stickler for the absolute truth? This essay examines the two types of truth and posits that G-d’s truth is absolute.
Read the full story »Naso: Who Is the Misfit Anyway?
A Deeper Meaning
The first verse of this Parsha, tells us to “raise the head of the tribal family Gershon”. In addition to the simple meaning of the words, “raise the heads,” which means take a census; there is a deeper meaning that lies submerged beneath the text. With a little …
Naso: Transforming The Desert
A G-dless Environment
The Temple service, described in our Parsha, was held in an arid and barren locale, the desert. G-d charged our ancestors with a special mission: transform the desert and make it bloom, bloom with the flowering blossoms of spirituality. In our day we have a similar mission: transform …
B’midbar: Celestial Formations
Around the Tabernacle
They traveled together, a single mass of two million people moving slowly through the sands. Each tribe precisely positioned, each group in perfect formation, their footsteps marked the desert.
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B’Midbar : The Counting Paradox
To Count or not to Count?
In this week’s Torah reading, (1), we read, in detail, about one of the several censuses taken of the Children of Israel in the years following their Exodus from Egypt.
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B’Midbar: A Question of Numbers
A Small Tribe
In this week’s Parsha we read that Moshe took a census of the nation. A quick scan of the numbers shows the tribe of Levi to be the smallest, with only twenty-two-thousand members. By way of comparison, the other tribes had anywhere from thirty to more then one …
B’Midbar Shavuot: Shavuot and the Desert
Seeking Inspiration
This weekend we will celebrate the last Shabbat before Shavuot. Since Shabbat is the source of blessing for the following week it is fitting to reflect upon the upcoming holiday during the course of this Shabbat.
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B’Midbar: Everyone Counts
The Census
During the forty years of our ancestors’ journey across the dessert their census was taken a total of four times, one of which is recorded in this week’s Parsha.
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B’har: Sabbatical – An Expression of Faith
Sabbatical
Would you enjoy taking a full sabbatical every seven years? You could relax, travel, study and spend quality time with your family.Would you enjoy it if your entire country took a sabbatical every seven years?
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Parsha Insights »
Vayechi: Our Mother
At The Grave Of A Mother
I was standing in Bethlehem at the grave of our nation’s mother, the Matriarch Rachel. I was praying for myself, my family and our nation. I poured my heart out on this quiet sunny morning, to a mother I had never met. Swept up in …
Yearly Cycle »
Fasting And Passover
What do the seventeenth of Tamuz, the ninth of Av, and the first day of Passover have in common? They always fall on the same day of the week.
How does that make any sense? The first day of Passover represents the redemption of our ancestors from Egypt that sparked their …
Concepts »
New Year Greeting 5765: The Rising Price of Gas
Oil Tesheuvah and the New Year
We live in an age of internationally rising consumption, which is in turn driving the price of crude oil to unprecedented heights. Our fear of quickly diminishing yet finite oil reserves is only compounded by the threat of instability in the Middle East.
In short, high …
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 …
