Are You A Parasite?
Parasites live inside or on organisms of other species and feed off them. This is why parasitism is the ultimate insult. It means that you don’t provide for yourself, let alone contribute to others. You steal from others for your very existence.
In a sense, we are all parasitic. Every living …
Cancelling Cancel Culture
We are told not to judge a book by its cover, but most of us do. In their inimitable way, our sages tell us, “Don’t look at the cask; look at the wine. Aged casks can be filled with new wine, and new casks can be filled with aged wine” …
Have You Changed?
We have a large crabapple tree in our backyard; it has been there for decades. Over the years, its beautiful branches have served as climbing apparatus for many young hands and feet, and its wonderful leaves have provided pleasant shade for many a gathering or a book reader.
Its spring blossoms …
When Good people Do Nothing
On Wednesday, August 21, more than a hundred Jewish institutions across Canada received bomb threats. More emails went on the next day. Thank G-d, the threats were empty. The police responded with alacrity and determined that the buildings were safe. The police continue to investigate to identify the IP address …
Count Your Blessings
Eikev: Protect A Nation
It is natural for Jews to bless G-d. We are raised from childhood to see G-d’s hand behind everything that happens in life. So, when good things happen, we thank G-d, when bad things happen, we pray to G-d. We bless G-d before we eat, and after, …
Finding G-d
This week we marked the anniversary of the destruction of the first and the second Holy Temples in Jerusalem. This is without question the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. On this day, on the ninth of Av, we reflect on our exile and the many troubles we experienced. We …
Be An Unselfish Star
Shortly before his passing, Moses translated the Torah into all the extant languages of his time. The Torah could now be read and understood in Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, Aramaic, etc. This was considered a good thing. Many years later, the Greek King Ptolemy commissioned seventy-two Jewish sages to translate the …
Israel’s War is My War
“Will your brothers go to war while you sit here?”
After our ancestors conquered the lands on the East bank of the Jordan River, the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and half of Manasseh, asked for permission to settle there. The wide-open grasslands were perfect for pasture and these tribes were shepherds. …
Parsha Insights »
Vayetze: The Jewish Oneness
Twelve Sons
Jacob had twelve sons, each was a little different from the others. But they were much more alike than Isaac’s or Abraham’s children were. They were different parts of the same spectrum. Different colors of the same rainbow. Intrinsically, they were one.
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Yearly Cycle »
The Three Weeks: An Overview
10 Tevet
There are a
series of fast days that commemorate the destruction of the holy
Temple. The first one falls on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of
Tevet. This fast begins at sunrise and ends at nightfall.
On this day the
Babylonian army laid siege to the holy city of Jerusalem. The siege
lasted …
Concepts »
The Real You
Michelangelo once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”
The essence of every Jew is a beautiful perfect soul. It is unmarred by ego, immaturity, insecurity, obsession, or any other form of human weakness. This beautiful soul, more pristine than the angel 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 …
