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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Long Term Goals
Why is it so difficult to choose long tern gain over immediate satisfaction? Most of us make that choice, but not until we are forced to. We don’t refuse the extra snack unless we are already overweight. We don’t hold down our cholesterol unless the doctor orders us …
A shame culture is one in which the individual is pressured to conform to the collective. Deviation from cultural norms is punishable by public shaming and ostracism. In a shame culture, people carefully groom their public personas—the image acceptable to the majority. A shame culture operates under the assumption that …
Does He Answer?
Rabbi,” she said, “The Torah states that G-d responds to our prayers and grants the favors we request, yet he has ignored my prayers. (1) I’ve been praying for months and my condition hasn’t improved.”
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Obey Your Parents
This week’s Torah portion introduces us to Esau’s son Eliphaz although our sages already mentioned him in last week’s portion.
When Jacob left his parents’ home to flee his brother’s rage, he stocked up on provisions. His wealthy parents made certain that he had plenty of gold and silver …
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 …
