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The Phoenix of Our Desires

"But alas, what should I blame except my irrational desire? It lifts me so aloft, and flies so high in the sky that it reaches the sphere of fire which scorches its wings; then unable to bear me up, it drops me from the sky....

Haftarah
Bereishit: The Creation of History

Isaiah 42:5 – 43:10: As would be expected of the Haftarah selected for the portion of creation, the sages found many of the major ideas in Jewish philosophy alluded to in this prophecy: God the Constant Creator (TBBerachot 52b, Zohar, Volume 1 205b),

 

Succot
Simchat Torah Exercises

Shemini Atzeret Night: Preparation for Simchat Torah Night. 1. Each person at the festival meal should review the seven most important things he/she learned over the past year. This list should include anything
Table Talk
Table Talk: Bereishit

The Rebellion of the Earth: God cursed the land after Adam’s sin because Adam’s body was formed from the earth. The earth already contained the seeds of rebellion. When God instructed the earth to produce
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Aravot Smashing

In Honor of the Holy Breslaver’s Yahrtzeit Xerxes was furious. His engineers had constructed a bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BC, and an act of God had taken out the bridge. Xerxes blamed both the sea and the hapless engineers: “As soon as the strait had...

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Which Way Are They Pointing?

My friend and I were sitting and having a deep conversation. During the long silences, I could hear the ticking of the clock behind me. The volume of the ticking rose and fell every few seconds. I did not need to look behind me to...

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A "Holy" Thief

Debbie baked all sorts of special treats for Succot, for family, friends and customers. She organized all the beautiful packages on the dining room table and left for a few minutes to answer the phone. When she returned to the dining room, all the pastries...

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The Advantage of Being An Alien

Poor Lord Monboddo! The Scottish jurist, natural historian and linguist, was visiting the King’s Bench in London, when the hall began to collapse, fixtures plummeting from the walls and ceiling. Judges and lawyers panicked and ran pell-mell, fleeing for the exits. Lord Monboddo sat very...

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Hallel: To Become Like Him

"Kemohem yih'yu oseyhem", "Like them will be those who make them". The preceding verses describe how idols have mouths, yet they don't speak, they have eyes
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Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Honrificabilitudinitatibus

The Bard’s clown in “Love’s Labor’s Lost,” has more to teach me than does Mary Poppins. “Honrificabilitudinitatibus,” which, depending on whom you ask, either means, ‘the state of being loaded with honors,’ or is an anagram proclaiming that Francis Bacon, not Shakespeare, wrote the great...