The Torah portion we read this week is Pekudei, which means accounting. In it, Moses accounts for every donation collected for the Tabernacle and lists them in precise detail.
This got me thinking about the accounting we must make every so often to clear up unsettled issues. I am talking about …
Disclaimer: It is commonly held that two subjects to be avoided in polite company are politics and religion…lest we offend.
This essay shamelessly addresses both.
Family Feuds
Brothers often bicker, we know that, but that doesn’t mean they should become enemies. When brothers turn against each other the entire fabric of society is …
G-d is You
As a child I recall walking with my father one morning while he was telling my older brothers that nothing exists outside of G-d. In fact, he said, G-d is in everything. He is the flower, the street, the car, He is even you. This captured my childish …
Jokes about confession abound, but confession is no laughing matter. Judaism takes confession seriously, especially on Yom Kippur. In Judaism, confession is an intensely private affair. It is only between you and G-d. No one else is invited or permitted to overhear your confession. We must confess silently. The public …
A Child is Robbed
Helpless and betrayed, my brother and I stood alone in the pre dawn hours. We were children; he was a teenager and I was perhaps ten. We had set out on an exciting journey: we would take the train to the plane and the plane to our …
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 …
