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 »The Human Struggle
Life is a long human struggle. Animals don’t struggle. For them, life is simple. They have only one objective. To live and perpetuate their kind. Humans have an entire wrestling match. To be human is to struggle. To be human is to strive for kindness, compassion, devotion, honesty, justice, loyalty, …
The Jewish Sole
Have you ever heard of a Jewish sole? Not a Jewish soul, a Jewish sole. No, I am not talking about a fish, nor am I not talking about a sole individual. I am talking about the undersurface of a Jew’s foot.
On two occasions, the Torah tells us that G-d …
Jewish Pride in Times of Despair
When G-d told Abraham to travel from the home he had built in Haran to Israel, he and Sarah gathered their household and went. Who were the members of their household? The Torah tells us that it was Lot, their nephew, and the souls they had made in Haran.
Who were …
Noach: Believe in Yourself
Believe in yourself is a common mantra these days, but it is sadly not as common in real life. Though we live in an age of unprecedented success and prosperity, too many people are mired in misery, insecurity, and negative self concepts.
Though every child has a reach through social media …
Loving talk
Loving talk is not only G-d’s preferred language; it is built into the very fabric of creation.
“In the beginning, G-d created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was astonishingly empty . . . And G-d said, let there be light. G-d saw that the light was good and …
Hakhel Gatherings on Sukkot
Hakhel: an international gathering of all Jews, men, women, and children, would take place once every seven years in Jerusalem. A platform would be erected in the Temple courtyard and the nation would gather to hear the king chant from the Torah. It always occurred on the second day of …
Freedom of Thought
Freedom of thought is a G-d given right. In communist and socialist countries, the individual is made to cede to the collective. In dictatorships the collective is compelled to cede to the dictator. But this is not what G-d intended for us humans. G-d intended for us to have freedom …
Shabbat Shuvah: The Loving Exam
The days of reckoning are here, and it is time for the loving exam. Most exams are associated with tension and trepidation. Irrespective of how well we know the material, proctors do their best to make it stressful. Fear of failure, fear of getting caught cheating, and fear of falling …
Yearly Cycle »
Sukkot: Repentance Again?
I sit in my study late at night after breaking the fast of Yom Kippur. As I do every year, I feel euphoric. The day was so intense, we invested so much effort, and the Divine dividends that will be paid out over the year will surely be generous. We …
Concepts »
Re’e: The Lonely Sock
Just A Half
Have you ever lost socks in the wash? It’s bad enough to lose a pair, but losing a single sock really frustrates me. You search in vain for its match and are left holding a useless sock. My son coined his own term for the single socks in …
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 …
