For all you Mesopotamian history buffs, Genesis 14 is the chapter for you! We start to delve into the war of four kings versus the five kings, and there is just a wealth of trivia nuggets from the Euphrates to the Jordan Valley, from Ur Kasdim to Egypt! We have the fight between Avraham and Lot’s […]
The Genesis of Family
Recently, I came across an advertisement challenging religion. The ad depicted a person extending their hand to an individual in need, helping to lift them up. The ad remarked, “you don’t need G-d”. It went on to say, just be a person who helps others and follows the golden rule. Maybe it makes sense? There are many irreligious folks […]
Finding Dawn
Did you ever have an experience where you up late in the darkness of night tossing and turning in anxiety? Perhaps about a financial problem or a conflict with your boss or co-worker? Then you wake up to the first rays of light. Suddenly, your mind is fills with solutions. What seemed like an insurmountable problem is […]
An Elul Reflection
Ladies and gentlemen, we have hit the jackpot. Whichever political party you love or hate – life here in the US is pretty amazing. There is economic bounty, political freedom and only four years until you get to vote your least favorite politician out of office. It is hard to think of the time and […]
The Place G-d Will Show You – Re’eh
Ever feel that you don’t know where your destiny lies? You’re not alone. Ever since Avraham, the Jewish people have been on a vulnerable journey to a destination that’s often unknown. *** This past April, four days before Pesach, I arrived in Israel. I went to the supermarket, jetlagged, to shop for Pesach. Suddenly, I was surrounded […]
Not By Bread
Meaning of Time Recently, my wife was diagnosed with an intracranial tumor. Though benign, this large tumor exerted pressure on her optic nerve, and she experienced significant loss of vision over a period of several months. For a long time, we were in the dark as to the cause of her problem. As it turns out, […]
Eicha – Thread of Hope
A Moral Crisis A young woman recently asked her father, upon his retirement, if he had fulfilled his life dreams. Her father remarked that his greatest accomplishments were not his business success. Rather, it was the moral choices that he made: standing aside his wife during her terminal illness and “keeping most the 10 commandments […]
Speak No Evil
The Roots of Destruction For much of the world, summer is associated with baseball, beaches and BBQs. For us Jews, we think about national crises and existential challenges. Our rabbis say that it all comes down to speech. As the Gemara teaches, the Second Temple was destroyed on account of baseless hatred. The Chafetz Chayim […]