Holidays

I am front and center for better or worse. And although I am naturally more comfortable sitting in the crowd than being up front, such is the role Hashem gave me, for better or worse. However, at the aufruf, wedding, and Sheva Brachos, I found myself primarily in a new role.

A bottle of wine is big and heavy, and when you give dozens of mishloach manos to friends and relatives, it can get quite expensive and tedious. Thankfully, the selection of smaller wine bottles and cans has grown tremendously.

Why 127 provinces? Well, that’s because Hashem wants to give us all the support and merit we can get. Sarah Emainu lived 127 years and Hashem wanted the merit of Sarah to bolster the efforts of Esther HaMalka who was queen over 127 provinces.

A great thing creates great strengths, however great strengths sometimes create confusion

If we continue to live as though God had only commanded us to subdue the Earth, we must be prepared for our children to inherit a seriously degraded planet, with the future of human civilisation put into question.

Asara B’Teves, the 10th of Teves, commemorates the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar that ultimately culminated with the First Temple’s destruction on the 9th of Av the following year.

On this day we learn to not only look at tragic events, but also on what led up to them. This is all the more important when talking about the Holocaust

In a sense, then, both Sephardim and Ashkenazim may be said to be following the Rambam.

We as Jews make sure to dream, but also help others dream! We care about the light, but we also care to shine for others!

Ari Fuld uncovers and explores the real miracle and lessons of Chanukah.

Ideally,nthe physical wisdom of the Greeks and Yefes are to reside within the tent of Shem, for science and the wisdom of the world to be in harmony with Torah. The problem occurred when the Greeks tried to destroy the Torah, which contradicted their ideology, and the Jews were forced to fight for their beliefs. This was the battle of Chanukah.

So many of us are caught in the hamster wheel of life--just get off for an instant to savor the moment

The same is true for all spiritual circles. The ideal is not to transcend the circular system, but to uplift it, to transform the circle into a spiral, to find innovative ways of creating newness within the circular system, not beyond it.

As we approach the winter, God wants us to be aware just how temporary our livelihood and security really are, or can become.

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For that one day we step out of ourselves and have an “out-of-body experience.” We are no longer part of this world as we know it.

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Yom Kippur is considered to be a Super Sabbath (Shabbat Shabbaton in Hebrew) – a soul-searching opportunity for pious and evil people alike.

Our goal as humans is not to escape the physical, but to use it as a means of connecting to the transcendent.  

Although one might think that the solution to this problem is to allow one’s child to recite the blessing on one’s lulav with the explicit condition that the child does not acquire the lulav, this is incorrect.

Almost always, the reason we are not willing to forgive offenses against us has almost nothing to do with the offense, and everything to do with it being done to us. Once we can internalize this, we can move to a God’s-eye perspective and forgive others more easily.

The Torah is a song? Torah certainly doesn’t feel like a song. We think of songs as relaxing, easy, accessible. Torah can certainly be that, but Torah is also so much more.

Wishing you a healthy, challenging and rewarding year

May this Shemita year hasten the coming of the Mashiach.; Shana Tova U’Mevurechet

The act of listening is a two-way street. There is the speaker – trying to communicate an emotion or problem – and the listener. What is the role of the listener?

 Elul and Rosh Hashanah center around the concept of teshuva, and Parshas Nitzavim is clearly linked to this theme as well. The pesukim in Nitzavim discuss the theme of teshuva, the importance of choosing life - choosing what is right, and connecting ourselves back to Hashem. As Parshas Nitzavim is connected to the transition from Elul into Rosh Hashanah, let us delve into the idea of teshuva. 

"The more you draw yourself to G-d, the more you must realize how far you are from Him. When a person believes that he has succeeded in achieving closeness to G-d and understanding of Him, it is a sign that he does not know anything at all." (Likutey Moharan I, 63)

Sometimes “tomorrow” never comes. Sometimes it is too late, but it is never “too soon,” never too early to own up to one’s failings and errors.

The second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, represented by the fox, which the sages saw emerging from the ruins. With the cunning and guile of a fox, the evil inclination instigates and stimulates baseless hatred, dissent, and strife.

The elites – the Kohanim in the Beit HaMikdash and too many others – in their zealous self-righteousness, religious coercion, and insensitivity to the way they were being perceived by others, contributed to a terrible culture of animosity and hatred.