G-d created the world through speech, and the words with which He created us are very much like flames. “Behold, my words are like flames” (Jeremiah 23:29). Flames don’t burn unless they have fuel to consume. The same is true of G-d’s words. “For G-d your G-d is a consuming …
Read the full story »Lech Lecha: Holistic Prayer
Focused Prayer
Have you heard of the rabbinical student who repeatedly failed his lifeguard test? Again and again, he failed to rescue the dummy from the bottom of the pool. The instructor finally approached and suggested that he consider removing his frock and fedora before trying again.
You can’t swim with coat …
Noach: Cycle of Violence
Manipulative Media
Every time terror groups strike in Israel, we hear the same dribble from shameless leaders about cycles of violence. They want us to believe that a Jew who strikes back at a terrorist is equivalent to a terrorist striking an innocent Jew. Punishing the offender is the predicate of …
Noach: A Rainbow
Rainbow – Bow in the Rain
Dolly Parton once said that if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain.
What is a rainbow? It is light refracted through a rain drop. Beams of light appear to be white, but they actually have many colors that the eye can’t …
Bereshit: Is Your Wife Against You or Behind You?
The Mentoring Wife
The other day, I visited with a couple I had never met. I noticed that while the wife sat quietly through the conversation letting her husband do most of the talking, she was not at all shy about correcting his behavior. Every time he said or did something …
Bereshit: Name Calling
What’s In A Name?
Here is a trivia question for you: Can you name the first scientist in all of history? Here is another question: Is science the work of G-d or does it merely satisfy human curiosity?
If you guessed Adam, you guessed right. If you answered that science is G-d’s …
Sukkot: The Prevailing Custom
A Custom Product
My earliest memories of the last day of Sukkot is of the market place set up in front of the large Synagogue of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Brooklyn, New York. All night long, the sidewalk at 770 Eastern Parkway was a teeming marketplace of willow sales.
“Five dollars a …
Sukkot: The Strength to Emerge
Emerge
Four days after Yom Kippur we take our show on the road. We emerge from our synagogue and home and go out to the Sukkah (outdoor hut covered in foliage). To come out means to emerge from the doors that enclose us in and the locks that hold us back. …
High Holilday Greetings 5777
New Year Greeting 5777
As I prepare for my sixteenth Rosh Hashanah in London, Ontario, my mind turns to an event that occurred shortly after we arrived.
Congregation Beth Tefilah organized an installation ceremony in my honor and Joel Wittstein of blessed memory was in attendance. I feel fortunate and honored to …
Parsha Insights »
Bechukotai: The Consequence of Good is Blessing
The Trivial Reward
He graduated with honors, received his master’s degree and was working on his dissertation when he lost interest. In an effort to motivate him, his professor said to him, “If you submit your dissertation and are granted your PhD, I will personally buy you a Game Boy.”
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Yearly Cycle »
Shemot: Faith Based Relationship
Nurtured by a Miracle
Throughout the period of Jewish exile in Egypt, Jews experienced many miracles and divine interventions. Children were born in a miraculous fashion; they were raised in the fields by G-d and would arrive home, alive and healthy, at a mature age. They were fed, clothed and even …
Concepts »
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 …
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 …
