In a small village in Lithuania, a young boy named Berel received a bicycle as a gift. Berel loved his bike and drove it every day, including Shabbat. The Rabbi heard about this and announced that Berel should henceforth be referred to as Berel the goy—the non-Jew. Berel heard about …
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A Six Day Journey
We come away from the ninth of Av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, with a spring to our step and a sense of hope. The six day stretch between the ninth and the fifteenth of Av are a transitional period, a time for healing. Our …
Snakes and Sticks
Sticks are straight and unbending. They neither deceive nor mislead; they are what they appear to be. Snakes are serpentine; twisted and curved they slither silently and slyly conceal their approach. Dishonest people are colloquially described as snakelike whereas honest people are described as straight; as the expression …
I sit in my study late at night after breaking the fast of Yom Kippur. As I do every year, I feel euphoric. The day was so intense, we invested so much effort, and the Divine dividends that will be paid out over the year will surely be generous. We …
You have a list of flaws. Sorry for outing you, but it’s not a big secret. We all have strengths and flaws.
I challenge you to sit down and list all your strengths and flaws. Let’s be honest; you have both. Now, set the list of strengths aside. I don’t need …
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 …
