Living is giving is one of the themes of this week’s Torah portion. Joseph rose to prominence in Egypt because of his ability to interpret Pharoh’s dreams. He accurately predicted a seven-year period of plenty when all harvests would be bountiful. The Middle East would enter a phase of incalculable …
Realizing your worst fears can be frightful. Deep inside we all have that abiding fear that we tamp down and bury far beneath the surface. It might be a fear of failure, a fear of being mocked, a fear of heights, a fear of darkness. Whatever our fears are, we …
Increase or Reduce
There are two ways to light Chanukah candles. One is to start with the smallest amount of light and increase each day, the second is to start with the greatest amount of light and reduce the light each day. In fact, this was an argument between the schools …
A Holiday
Joseph Stalin reputedly visited a Jewish inmate in prison who was rumored to foresee the future. Can you tell me, asked Stalin, when I will die? Well, replied the Jew, I can’t tell you the exact date, but I can tell you that will die on a Jewish holiday. …
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 …
