I was walking home after services on Friday night and passed someone who raised his arm and screamed, “Free Palestine”. I said nothing in response but thought, “I hope Palestine is free, dear chap now that you’ve done your part. And I hope you sleep well, dear chap now that …
Read the full story »Metzorah: Oh No My Home
He Doesn’t Care
Tragedy strikes. You are coming home from work and your house is engulfed in flames. It burns to a crisp and everything is gone. You are inconsolable; Oh no my Home! Your friends comfort you. They point out that no one was hurt and the family survived unscathed. …
Don’t Pass The Puck: Your Children Need You
The other day I went to the blood lab for a blood test. When I presented my paper work (remember I live in the happy world of Socialised Medicine) the technician gave me a long face accompanied by a sophisticated eye roll and a dismissive hand wave. I thought I …
Tazria: Fix Me Don’t Break Me
A Typical Exchange
With more than twenty years in the rabbinate I have seen my share of painful human interactions and have become an observer of human nature. I find that two thigs often happen when people berate each other. First, the berator comes on too strong to be heard. Second, …
Shmini: Bribe Yourself
The Bribe
This scene has probably played out in every family home. You are going to a wedding and don’t want to be late. But your children couldn’t care less and take their merry time getting ready. At your wits end, you do what any desperate parent does; you offer a …
Purim: The Divine Curveball
The Curveball
Can you believe its almost April? With the baseball season only days away, my mind turns to my non existent curveball. You see, the curveball is one of the many reasons I will never be a pitcher. My curveball just doesn’t curve. I can throw it straight, fast or …
Pekudei: Having A Bad Day?
Looking Up
If your life is anything like mine, then you have good days and bad. Days when you feel like G-d is on your side and days when nothing seems to go right. When you are in the midst of a full blown bad day, you just want to go …
Shabbat Zachor: Memory Is A Bridge
Remember
Can you imagine driving down the street and suddenly realizing that you forgot where you are coming from? If you don’t know where you are coming from, you can’t know where you are going or why. Severed from the past, the present has no bridge to the future.
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Ki Tisa; Don’t Fix It
If It Ain’t Broke
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, is a pithy saying from the American South The idea is that if something has a track record of success, don’t tinker with it.
Over the last few decades, the words ‘Jewish continuity’ has become a catchphrase. What can we do …
Parsha Insights »
Vayigash: A Recipe for Life
Frustrations
I can’t tell you how many times I have been frustrated by petty incidents such as getting caught in traffic or at red lights. These delays frustrate me to no end. I can’t stop thinking of the appointments I will miss or the things I will have to reschedule. The …
Yearly Cycle »
Passover: A personal Spark
Let My People Go
Did you know that everything in your possession was intended by G-d for you to have yet before He created the world? As G-d created each specific object (or the properties from which the objects would be made) He determined its owner. Your couch, wallet, furniture and …
Concepts »
Vaetchanan: Life’s Little Lessons
Two Stalled Cars
On a family visit to San Antonio I was called upon to demonstrate my mechanical prowess or, as it turned out, my lack thereof.
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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 …
