Columns

There is a fascinating feature of the geography of the land of Israel. It contains two seas: the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Sea of Galilee is full of life. The Dead Sea, as its name implies, is not. Yet they are fed by the same river, the Jordan. The difference is that the Sea of Galilee receives water and gives water. The Dead Sea receives but does not give. To receive but not to give is, in Jewish geography as well as Jewish psychology, simply not life.

To build the Mishkan, one must have the ability to hear G-d every step of the way, so that it will come out exactly the way G-d wanted it.

A bright idea...

If I had had the chutzpah which I now possess, I would have loudly protested and demanded equal rights. Since I was a 15-year-old, well behaved student I obeyed him.

Aren’t these basic common-sense laws that every civilization abides by? Why would anyone not accept the rule of law that banned such evil practices?

The idea that one might worship “the work of men’s hands” was anathema to biblical faith. More generally, Judaism is a culture of the ear, not the eye. As a religion of the invisible God, it attaches sanctity to words heard, rather than objects seen. Religious art is never “art for art’s sake.” Unlike secular art, it points to something beyond itself.

Worries have been around since the beginning of time. How we react is the only thing that really changes.

When I worked in a community organization many years ago and the folks that I was attempting to assist were rude, I could hear Mommie saying: “There is no excuse for bad manners!”

To my surprise, she thanked me again for the chizuk that I had given to her. Her comment somewhat assuaged the feeling of disappointment that I felt for having lost touch with her for so long.

The Gemara tells us that if one’s life is in danger anyone can desecrate Shabbos in order to save his life, because it is better to desecrate one Shabbos in order to be shomer many more.

How can Moses invoke the people’s obstinacy as the very reason for G-d to maintain His presence among them? What is the meaning of Moses’ “because” – “may my Lord go among us, because it is a stiff- necked people”?

The Torah specifies that the home is the first place that one should do chesed, and only after that should we look to help others.

Deep in his heart he felt completely delighted for his brother that he would take his place and redeem Bnei Yisrael and lead them.

Here and there, we saw a few men and boys. I still had my heart set on having a minyan. But how?

For once Moses, the hero, the leader, the liberator, the lawgiver, is off-stage in the only instance where the name of Moses is not mentioned at all in any parsha since the first parsha of the book of Shemot. Instead our focus is on his elder brother Aaron. The story of Aaron and Moses, the fifth act in the biblical drama of brotherhood, is where, finally, fraternity reaches the heights

We must all feel as though the traumatic event is part of us; we must cry and pray to Hashem to have mercy on all of us as individuals and as one big family as well.

We all said our goodbyes and exchanged lots of hugs and best wishes before heading to bed the night before her flight, just in case we would not wake up in time to see her off. Better too many hugs than too few…

Moshe Rabbenu wanted to build the vessels for the Mishkan before the actual Mishkan. Betzallel countered, that the derech haolam – way of the world – is to first build a house and then build the furniture.

The very concept of making a home in finite space for an infinite presence seems a contradiction in terms. The answer, still astonishing in its profundity, is contained at the beginning of this week’s parsha: “They shall make a Sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell in them [betokham]” (Exodus 25:8).

Leah couldn’t wait to hear what the Rabbi had said. Deep down in her heart she wanted so much to hear and believe that everything was going to be all right...

A great story told by a master storyteller--better still--it's TRUE!

When the Nazis began their hunt of on October 1, Rosh Hashana night, most Jews were already hiding in fishing villages along the coast.

At a time when our society is becoming more immoral by the week, it is important for us to strengthen our morality, and specifically in the area of appreciating life.

Whichever way we look at it, there is something striking about this almost endlessly iterated concern for the stranger – together with the historical reminder that “you yourselves were slaves in Egypt.” It is as if, in this series of laws, we are nearing the core of the mystery of Jewish existence itself. What is the Torah implying?

Who looked for wisdom? Who sat so quietly in class taking in every word that the rabbi was trying to teach us?

The inspiration of 'Lost and Found'

The reason why Hashem gave us Eretz Yisrael, whose fruits were spectacular and enormous, is because He loves us more than the other nations.

It seems, though, that The One Above recently ensured that I was compensated for the time I have spent picking up students over the years and taking them to school.

With the revelation at Sinai, something unprecedented entered the human horizon...the politics of freedom was born

Thinking about all of our troubles or tests will not help us. Gloom and depression don’t solve anything.