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 »Vayera: Parallel Realities
Did It Happen?
In this week’s Parsha we read of a visit paid to Avraham by three angels for the purpose of informing Avraham and Sarah that they will at long last have a child.
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Lech L’cha: Stand Up for faith
She Chose to Sit
Rosa Parks, “symbol of the civil rights movement,” became famous in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery Alabama. She was arrested, tried and convicted for violating a local ordinance but her small act of defiance …
Lech L’cha: Blood Is Thicker
Going To War
We All know the story. Marauding armies captured Lot when they conquered the rebellious cities of Sedom and Amorah. Upon hearing that Lot was in captivity, Avraham, his servant Eliezer and a handful of men, chased his captors in an effort to liberate Lot. Avraham succeeded and was …
Lech L’cha: The Truly Meaningful
Oh, He Finally Noticed?
Our Parsha speaks of the journey made by Avraham and his wife Sarah to the land of Egypt. Fearing for Sarah’s safety in the face of Egyptian immorality, he said to her “ Behold I have noticed that you are beautiful”, and proceeded to outline a plan …
The Jewish Faith: G-d
Absolute
Jews believe in a single G-d. The very notion that there might be another deity is to the Jew, foreign and utter heresy.
The G-d that
Jews believe in is absolute in every way. Absolute in his unity,
absolute in his eternity, absolute in his capacity and absolute in his
infinity.
This absolute
G-d is omnipotent. …
The Jewish Faith: A Chosen People
The Jewish people
The Jewish
people are a unique nation. Our distinction is not due to major
accomplishment or extraordinary talent but our close relationship to
the Almighty.
Three thousand
and eight hundred years ago there lived a man by the name of Abraham.
As a young child, Abraham came to a full recognition of an all-powerful
and …
The Jewish Faith: The Torah
A Means of Connection
In the Essay on
the Jewish people we have learned of the Jewish mission to bring
humanity to a state of unity with itself and with G-d. A natural
question presents itself. How are the Jews meant to bring about this
utopian age? Why do we believe ourselves to be equipped …
The Jewish Faith: Discipline
Obediance
Our sages taught
the formula for achieving this connection. A burning love for G-d and
intense feeling of awe are pre-requisites for the Jewish approach.
However, Jewish worship and service must begin with a simple but
conclusive discipline to the regiment of G-d and his Torah.
More than our
desire to cleave to him should be …
Parsha Insights »
Tazria: Arab Spring
The Source of the Wave
The wave of unrest, dubbed Arab Spring, that spread across the Middle East n the spring of 2011 is commonly traced to Mohamed Bouazizi, a poor Tunisian street vendor, who set himself on fire in December, 2010, to protest police harassment. Mohamed’s desperate suicide sparked outrage …
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 »
Bikur Cholim
A fantastic story is told about the Chassidic master Rabbi Moshe of Korbin. Once, on his travels, he stayed at the home of one of his disciples. His host’s grandson, then a baby, had fallen gravely ill. Doctors had given up all hope and did not expect the child 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 …
