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 »Korach: Wealth as a Status Symbol
Aspirations
What is your aspiration? To live a healthy and honest lifestyle, to raise happy well adjusted children, to contribute something of lasting significance to humanity, to live a life of piety, to master a subject and become a scholar; are all worthwhile causes, but accomplishing any of them requires money.
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Sh’lach: Never Stop Loving
LOL
When you see the popular texting term LOL do you read Lots of love or Laugh out Loud?
When you hear that Jews were sentenced to forty years of wandering the desert for believing the terrible report about Israel from the ten spies, you have to wonder, should we Laugh out …
Pinchas: A Living Incarnation
Act of Courage
Shortly before our ancestors crossed the Jordan into Israel they were approached lewdly by Midyanite women, who used their charms not only to seduce the Jewish men, but also to bait them to idol worship. So pervasive did this unholy alliance become that Zimri, a prince in the …
B’haalotcha: Live every Moment
An Invitation
Just before the Jews departed Sinai, Moses invited his father in Law to join them. Jethro wasn’t a Jew from birth; he was a priest, who had converted first to monotheism and later Judaism. Moses was somewhat hesitant about his invitation as apparent from the following text.
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Naso: Judaism Is Egalitarian
Equal Access
When the words religious egalitarian are spoken they usually refer to gender equality, but I have something entirely different in mind. I am referring to the absence of a caste system in Judaism. Jews don’t subscribe to a pyramid scheme that requires the laity to access G-d via priests …
Shavuot: How To Celebrate An Anniversary?
Ani-Very-Sorry
Shavuot is the anniversary of the day we received the Torah. Almost every year before my anniversary my friends ask, so what are you going to do for your anniversary? I submit that a much better question would be what is your anniversary going to do for you? And if …
B’har: Going on Holiday
Sabbatical
I love the Sabbath, I really do. It’s a twenty-four hour break from monotony. The tedium of routine that constitutes our week can wear us down. The Sabbath is like going on holiday. It rides in on Friday evening, like a knight in shining armor, to save us from ourselves.
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Why Doesn’t G-d Make Miracles Anymore?
A Holiday for Every Miracle
Almost every miracle in Jewish history has a holiday. It is an ingenious way of keeping history alive. Jewish children don’t need a history lesson to tell you when G-d gave the Ten Commandments or when our ancestors left Egypt. They don’t need to learn it, …
Parsha Insights »
Naso: Food for Thought for Your Dinner Table
Sunday: Never Too Late
The Levites began to serve in the sanctuary at the age of thirty and their primary task was transporting the sanctuary across the desert. The desert is an arid environment with no water. Water is a symbol for the Torah. On a spiritual plane, the desert represents …
Yearly Cycle »
The “Light” of Chanukah
A story is told of a man who was struggling along with an obviously heavy sack slung over his shoulder. The weather was hot and humid making his task arduous and tiring. A passer-by, clearly intrigued by this individual, asked him what it was that he had in the sack. …
Concepts »
The Jewish Trump Card Over Iran
Last night, Israel launched a devastating preemptive strike against Iran’s military and nuclear ambitions. The IDF explained that Iran was on the verge of producing nuclear weapons, and there is no question of their aims against Israel. This was a preemptive strike, but by no means an opening salvo. This …
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 …
