Providence

Dreams General Providence Individual Providence Judgement Man's soul Prophecy Redemption Reincarnation Self Perfection Spiritual realm Suffering

The basic principles upon which we use choice to build a relationship with God.

The Plan: Dark Imaginings

I concluded “A Banquet of Consequences,” with the following questions: Why the dark parts? 1. ‘And it is this that has stood for our ancestors and for us; since it is not [only] one [person or nation] that has stood [against] us to destroy us, but rather...

Tags: Bo, Chesterton, Darkness, Imagination, Seder, Slaying of First Born, Wordsworth

The Plan: A Banquet of Consequences

“Sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.” (Robert Louis Stevenson) I find that phrase a perfect description of the Pesach Seder! Some of the “consequences” are more obvious than others: Searching for and then ridding our homes of Chametz is intended to identify...

Tags: Bo, Chametz, Consequences, Kadesh, Karpas, Koreich, Maggid, Maror, Matzah, Pesach Seder, Robert Louis Stevenson, Urchatz, Yachatz

The Plan: Dreaming

“There is a certain dull uniformity in human destiny. The course of our lives follows ancient and immutable laws, with an ancient, changeless rhythm. Dreams never come true, and the instant they are shattered, we realize how the greatest joys of our life lie beyond...

Tags: Bo, Natalia Ginzburg, Vaeira

Dreamers Ambitious & Autocratic

I’m back in Rocinante (My Time Machine) and my first stop is 19th century, Concord to pick up Henry David Thoreau. I assumed he was along to interview Joseph. After all, it was he who said, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live...

Tags: Civil Disobedience, Dreams, Goethe, Henry David Thoreau, Josef, Miketz, Pharaoh, Sorrows of Young Werrther

Story Magic VI – Spellbound

The First Edition of the London Review of Books, the beginning of a long relationship with superb writing of masters with whom I disagree on most important ideas, began with the following paragraph: “Borges has written (and it is certainly true of Borges) that the writer...

Tags: Jacob, Josef, Miketz, Reuben, Vayeishev, Yetzer Harah

Story Magic Part Two

Joseph would not have made it past one dream in my family! We, too, were a family of dreamers and visionaries. They were also master story tellers. My mother a”h, who could turn a story of starting a fire in Naomi’s kitchen on Erev Pesach into fifteen...

Tags: Jacob, Joseph and his Brothers, Vayeishev

Joseph and The Condemned Man

I can’t read the story of Joseph interpreting the dreams of the Royal Baker and Wine Steward without thinking of Victor Hugo’s, “The Last Day of a Condemned Man.” The baker, hopeful upon hearing the slave’s interpretation of the wine steward’s dream, and observing how so...

Tags: George Orwell, Joseph, The Hanging, Victor Hugo

Story Magic

The following is dedicated in honor of Brian Ross - in memory of his father z”l, - for two reasons: You make me laugh as does the writer I’m about to quote. The writer was Canadian, I hope familiar to you. In “the Best of Gregory...

Tags: Josef, Miketz, Stories, Vayeishev, Yosef

Countdown to Chanukah 23 – Eye to the Brain II

The Ohr HaChaim HaKodesh goes one step beyond our description of vision as an entrance to the intellect (https://thefoundationstone.org/countdown-to-chanukah-24-from-eye-to-brain-i/), and speaks of the eye as a Spiritual sense (Devarim 32:10, ‘pupil of his eye’). This is why Rav Abba had the Divine Name in front of...

Haftarah: Vayishlach: The Challenge of Greatness

Obadiah Chapter 1: 1-21 Who was Obadiah? Which nation is Edom, the subject of Obadiah’s prophecy? The sages say that Obadiah is the same man we discussed a few weeks ago in

Tags: God & Israel, Haftarah, Obadiah, Vayishlach

Surprise!

I left our home in Toronto in 1971 for summer camp, and was surprised to be driven at summer's end to a new home in Baltimore. I didn't know that we were moving. There seemed to be what Richard Russo, in "The Mysteries of Linwood...

Tags: Abraham, Genesis, Lech Lecha

Grow Up!

Every child is fascinated by the problem of the caterpillar and the butterfly. But most of us, forget these things and become absorbed in matters of consequence. Scientists form one group of individuals in whom childish traits persist: for the adult scientist still wonders about...

Tags: Bible

Haftarah: Vayeitzei: Possibilities

Hosea 12:13 – 14:3 Is it Rosh Hashana again? The prophetic selection may not begin on the theme of repentance, but it certainly ends with it. We read the exact text we read on Shabbat Shuvah.

Tags: Haftarah, Hosheia, Prophecy, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Vayeitzei

Table Talk II: Vayeitzei

Measured By Dreams: My grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman zt”l would often say to students who were leaving Yeshiva in order to work: “How did Jacob know that it

Tags: Man's Responsibility, Vayeitzei

The Light in The Dark

He experienced unlimited life and as an astonishing gift, God lifted Abraham above the stars in order to say, "What you experienced was real! You are not limited by the forces of nature or by destiny." Abraham's response was so perfect, that the verse describes God...

Tags: Abraham, Genesis, Lech Lecha

Visions of Greatness

I wake up when it is still dark outside, so it was easy to notice the squares of light that were floating around the room. They were scenes from Pip’s dreams. There were pictures of bones floating next to much larger pictures of rib steaks,...

Tags: Elul, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur

After The Blast?

We were close to Israel’s border with Lebanon when we heard a frightening sound. The soldier with us rushed us into a bomb shelter. The sound was a katushya rocket. “The noise is the worst part!” said the soldier. There is a long, scary, whistling...

Tags: Bible, Shofar

An Almost High Point of a Complicated Story…

...or, Why A Plan Is So Important ‘Yehoiada then made a covenant between God and the king and people that they would be God’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. All the people of the land went to the temple of...

Tags: Ahab, athaliah, Covenant, Jezebel, Shekalim, Yehoiada, Yoash, Zecharia

Mountain Fishing

J. Accused me of always bagging his books as soon as he had begun to read them. I said, "it's like fishing. I see you've got a bite. I want your line. I want to pull it in." Katherine Mansfield January 30, 1921 ‘Moses came and summoned...

Tags: Commitment, Evidence of Things Not Seen, Katherine Mansfield, Mountain climbing, Revelation, Sinai, W.H. Murray, Yitro

The Plan: Swimming Lessons

I’ve been waiting for more the two years to write about Jessica Lee’s, Turning: A Memoir, and this week’s Parsha, Beshalach. INFINITE SPACE: I imagined the Children of Israel crossing the Sea and, to describe the experience, using Ms Lee’s epigraph, ‘Around us the illusion of infinite...

Tags: Beshalach, Jessica Lee, Manna, Margaret Atwood, Pain, Song of the Sea, Space

The Plan: A Collection of Schizophrenias

By the time I turned the first page of Esmé Weijun Wang’s compelling, “The Collected Schizophrenia’s,” I knew I had to share my initial Biblical DSMII diagnosis of Pharaoh, the purpose of his illness, and my concern over his heightened vulnerability to Covid and the...

Tags: Beshalach, Manna, Mental Illness, Moshe, Pharaoh, Water

The Plan: Staging The Moment

There would be nothing more obvious, More tangible, than the present moment. And yet it eludes us completely. All the sadness of life lies in that fact. Milan Kundera ****** “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the...

Tags: Albo, Alkabetz, Beshalach, Ikkarim, Manot Halevi, Moshe, Seder, Yam Suf

The Plan: Dreaming

Tags: Bo, Natalia Ginzburg, Vaeira

The Plan: Action!

We concluded, The Plan: What’s Next with ‘God demonstrates this very lesson to the magicians themselves. “You may be able to play with nature and secret powers, but you must begin by mastering yourselves or you will collapse.” The people of Egypt understand this, as does Moshe, as...

Tags: Bo, Moshe, Pharaoh, Ten Plagues, Vaeira

The Plan: What’s Next?

In, “The Plan: Introduction To Exodus,” we asked, Why were Ten Plagues necessary to free the Children of Israel from Egypt? Why did Pharaoh need to be so thoroughly manipulated? Why did the magicians play such an important role? Why did the average Egyptian citizen have to suffer? Why were...

Tags: Bo, Moshe, Pharaoh, Vaeira, Yesod Ha’Avodah

The Plan: The Lightning Bush

In the Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil describes the vast cave inhabited by the god Vulcan and his worker-drones, the Cyclopes. It is here, Virgil defines the lightning bolt of Jupiter as informatum – forged or given shape beneath their hammers. To in-form meant to give a...

Tags: Burning Bush, Moses, Moshe, Shemos, Shemot, Vaeira

The Plan: Introduction to Exodus

The director Fred Schepisi tells a story about the time he invited an oral surgeon to his film class. Dimming the lights, the man tacked to the wall a group of backlit X-rays, different shots of the same mouth, which anyone could see, even in these...

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Pharaoh, Shemos, Shemot, Vaeira

Joseph and Asarah BiTevet: The Storm That Stole My Prayers

In, “Journeys: The First Step,” we set out to travel with the major Biblical characters. I could tell you that my Time Machine was in the repair shop or, that life, Countdowns to Chanukah and Asarah BiTevet, combined with the Loom channel have distracted me....

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, Babylonians, Chabakuk, Daniel, Habakuk, Jerusalem, Joseph, Sefer Hayashar, Sefer Yuchsin, Vayeishev

Morning Blessings-Terumah-Finding My Path

The question was raised as to why there are different customs regarding the order of prayer, and how each individual should pray. I replied that it is impossible to adequately explain these things in writing. However, the

Tags: Ezekiel, Morning Blessings, Prayer, Terumah, Vayeitzei

Prayer Skills-Vaeira-The Name of Divine Providence

“The Lord spoke to Moses and said to him, 'I am God' (Exodus 6:2).” God, Who makes all happen through Divine Providence. He is not as a flesh and blood being who builds a house, and controls the house only until it

Tags: Prayer, Vaeira

Haftarah-Vayechi-Reading the Text-David and Yoav I-Abner Part Three

It is clear in “Balance,” “David, Yoav & Abner I,” and “Part Two,” that David’s opening charge to Solomon is to urge him to balance his dual roles as person and king (Be a Man). We’ve begun to see how Joab

Tags: Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Samuel, Self-perfection, Vayechi

Haftarah-Vayechi-Reading the Text-David and Yoav I-Abner Part Two

In “Balance,” and “David, Yoav & Abner I,” we began to explain David’s opening charge to Solomon from his deathbed, urging him to balance his dual roles as person and king (Be a Man). We’ve seen how David dealt with Abner, but we still must...

Tags: Abner, Balance, Bible, Haftarah, Individual Providence, King David, King Solomon, Kings, Samuel, Self-perfection, Vayechi

Haftarah-Vayechi-Reading the Text-David and Yoav I-Abner

We concluded Part One wondering how David’s opening message of balance to Solomon bears on all the instructions that follow. We pay close attention to the way the prophet formats the text, where he places an open space, indicating a new topic, or a closed...

Tags: Abner, Balance, Bible, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Joab, King David, King Solomon, Kings, Samuel, Self-perfection, Vayechi

The Family Moves Part Eight-The Brothers Engage

The time has arrived for Joseph to engage his brothers in the debate with Pharaoh (See “Table Talk: Vayeishev” & “Who’s In Charge?”). Pharaoh is testing Joseph who remains confident (“More Than a Feeling”). However, the family will have to master the Ivri approach, to...

Tags: Adam, Bible, Divine Providence, Free Choice, Garden of Eden, Miketz, Serpent, Vayigash

The Family Moves Part Seven: More Than a Feeling

“I looked out this morning and the sun was gone Turned on some music to start my day I lost myself in a familiar song I closed my eyes and I slipped away It's more than a feeling (more than a feeling) When I hear that old song they used...

Tags: Bible, Divine Providence, Joseph, Miketz, Pharaoh, Vayigash

The Family Moves Part Six: The Debate Begins

The first meeting between Joseph and Pharaoh is about to begin, and the wine steward felt safe involving himself, however, he also realized that he had to carefully choose his words to ingratiate himself with Pharaoh, even as he was about to hint that Pharaoh...

Tags: Bible, Divine Providence, Miketz, Vayigash

The Family Moves Part Five: Prelude To The Debate

We posited that Pharaoh and Joseph are engaged in a debate that began with the formation of Adam. Let’s study the text: “Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘Today I am reminded of my shortcomings. Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he imprisoned...

Tags: Bible, Divine Providence, Garden of Eden, Miketz, Vayigash

The Family Moves Part Four: Who’s In Charge

We have come full circle with the Master of Memory back to his dreams, and his guiding his brothers to restore their relationship with each other and with Jacob, and all the way back to Adam just outside the entrance to the Garden. “Listen to this...

Tags: Divine Providence, Garden of Eden, Miketz, Prayer, Shatnez, Vayeishev, Vayigash

The Family Moves Part Three-Outsiders

We’ve been rewinding through the family’s history to better understand why things move at Fast Forward. We’re searching to figure out Joseph’s Menu. I believe the key to this story to be the definition of “Hebrews,” the people with whom it was loathsome for the Egyptians...

Tags: Abraham, Bible, Egypt, Garden of Eden, Noah, Vayigash

The Family Moves Part Two: Fast Forward

It all happens so quickly! The brothers confront the Viceroy, ready for war. Joseph reveals himself, tells them to move down to Egypt, a suggestion they accept without hesitation! These brothers listen to their old nemesis in the snap of a finger! They aren’t bothered...

Tags: Miketz, Vayigash

The Diet of Strangers – The Family Moves Part One

"Before Columbus, the diet of Europeans had remained basically unchanged for tens of thousands of years, based mainly on oats, barley, and wheat. Within a quarter century of his first voyage, the European diet became richer, more varied, and more nutritious. As Roger Schlesinger wrote...

Tags: Joseph and his Brothers, Vayigash

Master of Memory VII-A Long Speech

“Good deeds can be shortly stated, but where wrong is done, a wealth of language is needed to hide its deformity (Thucydides).” Wow! Judah's speech to the Egyptian viceroy is certainly a long one. What made him think that the Viceroy would allow him to make...

Tags: Joseph and his Brothers, Shema, Vayigash

Master of Memory VI-A Father's Lesson

“Emotions are the most basic form of communication between children & parents (Rav Noach Orloweck).” “And they told him, saying, 'Joseph is still alive,' also that he is ruler over all the land of Egypt; but his heart was full of daggers, for he could not...

Tags: Honoring Parents, Kibud Av v'Eim, Vayigash

Master of Memory V: What Was In His Heart

“A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart (Johann Wolfgang von Goeth).” How quickly things change! The man in charge of the Viceroy's house confronts the brothers and accuses them of repaying the evil for good, and for stealing the goblet from...

Tags: Vayigash

Master of Memory V

“But Joseph said to them, 'It is just as I have declared to you: you are spies! By this shall you be tested: By Pharaoh's life you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him fetch...

Tags: Miketz

Master of Memory IV

“And he said to them, 'No! But the land's nakedness have you come to see' (Genesis 42:12).” The viceroy of Egypt simply rejects their words. It is a terrible feeling to be ignored, as in, “They could not speak to him peaceably (37:4),” and, as...

Tags: Miketz

Master of Memory III

“They answered him, 'Not so, my master! For your servants have come to buy food. All of us, sons of one man are we; we are truthful people; your servants have never been spies' (Genesis 42:10–11).” I always find it interesting how easily someone who lies...

Tags: Miketz

Master of Memory II

“Joseph saw his brothers and he recognized them, but he acted like a stranger towards them and spoke harshly with them. He asked them, 'From where do you come?' And they said, 'From the land of Canaan to buy food.' Joseph recognized his brothers, but...

Tags: Miketz

Reading the Text: Haftarah Zachor III

Transcribed and prepared by Anna Beller: And Shaul smote Amalek at this area, and captured the king Agag of Amalek alive, and all the nation, he destroyed by the sword. Why didn’t he kill Agag? Shaul and the nation had mercy on Agag and on the...

Tags: Good & Evil, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Purim, Samuel, Zachor

Haftarah Zachor: Background IV

Purim is the holiday of the oral law. The oral law means we do only what’s told or do we also use judgment and creativity? Judgment and creativity. So we understand that if you’re dealing here with oral law issues then

Tags: Haftarah, Individual Providence, Purim, Samuel, Zachor

Reading the Text: Haftarah Zachor II

Transcribed and prepared by Anna Beller: You need to picture the story, that it’s not just the battle but you must keep in mind the struggle that’s going on inside Shaul. You must keep this in mind or you won’t understand the story. Again: It’s...

Tags: Haftarah, Individual Providence, Purim, Samuel, Zachor

Haftarah Zachor: Background III

Transcribed and prepared by Anna Beller: Now there is another human being, we learn from midrash hayom, who looks exactly like Adam, who was that? Yaakov, Jacob looks exactly the way Adam did. So its interesting that

Tags: Haftarah, Individual Providence, Purim, Samuel, Zachor

Reading the Text: Haftarah Zachor I

Transcribed and prepared by Anna Beller: Rachamim & Chemlah: “And Samuel said to Saul, it was I whom God sent to anoint you as a king over His nation, over Israel. And now listen to the word of the voice of hashem. So says God the lord...

Tags: Good & Evil, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Purim, Samuel, Zachor

Haftarah Zachor: Background II

Transcribed and prepared by Anna Beller: The next point, before you can wipe out an entire nation, as you recall every nation has their own angel. And as long as the angel is still alive, not in the same way as is a human being,

Tags: Haftarah, Individual Providence, Purim, Samuel, Zachor

Haftarah Zachor: Background I

Transcribed and prepared by Anna Beller: Just when the Jews had crossed the Red Sea with all the great miracles they had the mannah and the bitter waters Amalek attacks them. The passuk says they attacked them at Rephidim. And Rephidim is a name of the...

Tags: Amalek, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Moshe, Purim, Samuel, Saul, Zachor

A Changed Family

[caption id="attachment_1770" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Change"][/caption] The family had changed. When the names were listed in Vayigash, the family was divided by mothers: The sons of Leah and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid. The sons of Rachel and then the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid....

Tags: Shemot, Vayigash

The Altar of Confrontation

Word of Abraham’s miracle quickly spread from city to city. The local authorities appreciated the danger of his revolutionary idea, but were hesitant to confront Abraham, lest they lose as much as did Nimrod. Abraham left Haran, with his wife, servants, flocks and his new followers....

Tags: Genesis, Lech Lecha

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),

Tags: Genesis, Haftarah, Isaiah

What Will The Future Bring?

(Dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Yossi H. z"l) I was writing a sermon on the Mishnaic dictum: “Who is wise? He who can see ahead.” I wanted to focus on the idea of being a Boteiach – someone who trusts in God’s commitment to His...

Tags: Bitachon

Music of Halacha: A New President

A New President

Rabbi Chanina, the deputy High Priest says, “Pray for the welfare of the government, because if people did not fear it, a person would swallow his fellow alive.”

Tags: Blessings, Ezra, Jeremiah, Music of Halacha, Pirkei Avot

M.F.K. Fisher on Preparing Manna

It seems that far more people prefer a short Loom recording to one of these essays. I understand. So, I had to rethink my writing, something I love although not one of my better skills. I remembered once reading of M.F.K. Fisher saying to Ruth Reichl,...

Tags: Manna. Beshalach, MFK Fisher, Ruth Reichl

The Plan: Staging The Moment

Tags: Albo, Alkabetz, Beshalach, Ikkarim, Manot Halevi, Moshe, Seder, Yam Suf

The Straight Way Was Lost

I read each stage of this week’s parsha and I kept thinking of the opening line of Dante’s Divine Comedy: “In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost.” “Jacob took an...

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, Dante, Jacob, Joseph, Reuben, Tamar, Teshuvah, Vayeishev

Countdown to Chanukah 17 – Steroids For The Soul

Dedicated to Partners In Prayer If one feels death approaching, he is instructed, 'Confess [your sins]!' And they say to him, 'Many confessed [their sins] and died not, and many who have not confessed, died; and as a reward, should you confess, perhaps you will live; and he...

Tags: Bikur Cholim, Confession, Vidui

Countdown To Chanukah 20 – Fueled By Tears

“Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended; and they saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity (Exodus 24:8-9 - sefaria.org)”. Rashi comments on, “...

Tags: Revelation, Sinai

Haftarah Ki Tisa Part Ten

“They took the bull that he gave them and prepared it, and called out in the name of the Baal all from the morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was neither sound nor response, and they danced by the altar that he made.”

Tags: Haftarah, Haftarot, Ki Tisa, Kings, Pesach, Prophecy

Midrash Esther XVI: Don’t Spoil the Party

“He made a feast for all his princes and his servants.” Antoninus gave a feast for Rabbi Judah the Prince. Said Rabbi Judah to him: Cannot you afford a really bright lamp? Antoninus replied: why should I trouble about these? Rabbi Judah the Prince answered: perhaps...

Tags: Achashveirosh, Amalek, Bible, Daniel, Esther, Midrash, Purim

Amidah-Shemot-Discerning Wisdom

“She opened it and saw him, the child, and behold! A youth was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrew boys.'

Tags: Amidah, Prayer, Shemot

Morning Blessings-Shemot-Modeh Ani-Chemlah

“She opened it and saw him, the child, and behold! A youth was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Hebrew boys' (Exodus 2:6).” "She took pity on him," "vaTachmol alav,” Chemlah is different from

Tags: Morning Blessings, Prayer, Shemot

Prayer Skills-So What-Shemot-Elokeinu

“His sister stationed herself at a distance to know what would be done with him (Exodus 2:4).” It does not mean that she simply, “stood there,” but, that “she placed herself there with full intent, full energy.”

Tags: Prayer, Shemot

Ki Tavo: Expanding God’s Presence

“I have declared today to God, your Lord (Deuteronomy 26:3).” “Your Lord,” instead of, “our Lord,” seems incomprehensible here. How could the person making this declaration be allowed to exclude himself from

Tags: Amidah, Ki Tavoh, Psalms, Tehillim

The Strength of Arguing

The Anshei Knesset HaGedolah conclude the first Mishna in Avot by teaching, “Strengthen your Torah through constant discussion.” (Chassid Ya’avetz, who does not believe that the Mishna teaches us to “Make a fence around the Torah!”) Who were these people? The Talmud teaches: “Why were they...

Tags: Pirkei Avot, Prayer

Shekalim: King David’s Counting and What Followed: Getting the Message

“If it be God that has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering (I Samuel 26:19)” R. Eleazar said: Said the Holy One, Blessed is He, to David: “You call Me a ‘stirrer-up’. Behold, I will make you stumble over a thing which

Tags: Divrei HaYamim, Haftarah, Half Shekel, Kings, Purim, Samuel, Shekalim

Divine Providence

The Talmud in Avodah Zarah 2a teaches that, “All the nations of the world will gather before God on the Day of Judgment in a large and mixed crowd. God will instruct them to organize themselves by individual nations so that each may be judged...

Tags: Half Shekel, Ki Tisa, Shekalim

Help! I've Been Minimized!

You probably can’t see me, but I’m here. My wife and I were on Skype talking to one of her friends, when Debbie walked out of video range for a moment and her friend minimized the screen while I was on it. I’ve...

Tags: Mishpatim, Torah, Yitro

The Hug

We met almost twenty years ago and immediately sensed that we were kindred spirits. We became very close friends, almost brothers, for three years, but somehow drifted away from each other. We reconnected for a few months, and then life’s challenges took control and we...

Tags: Vayigash

Charm School

One of the essays that made Jamaica Kincaid famous was "Charm" about the Ophelia DeVore School of Charm for young black women. "At some point, all this will become extinct. As black people integrate, they won't want to do the special little things that they...

Tags: Chanukah, Miketz

First Impressions I: Questions

He appeared at the well as a penniless vagabond. Jacob had nothing with him. “My brothers, where are you from?” he asked. I wonder if they reacted to “My brothers” the way I react when a panhandler on the subway begins his pitch with, “Hey!...

Tags: Vayeitzei

Table Talk Series Two: Chayei Sarah

Shalom Fighting: What allowed Elijah to live forever? (Vayikra Rabbah 27:4) The Sefer HaIkkarim (Ma’amar 4: 51. See also Seforno, Numbers 25:12) explains that as the Rambam (Hilchot

Tags: Chayei Sarah, Shalom

Transitions I

Something changed. Abraham sent Eliezer on his mission to find a wife for Isaac, but we never read of Eliezer reporting to his master. In fact, we never read of Abraham or Eliezer again, other than the former's death. It's as if the great patriarch disappeared...

Tags: Chayei Sarah

Fear of Laughter

Sarai expected that when her husband, Abram, had a revelation, that her life would drastically change. One day, Abram informed her that they were about to take everything they owned and begin a journey to a destination yet to be determined. “God promised that I...

Tags: Vayeira

The Promise of Hope

I was sick for many years. I desperately prayed for healing and for the necessary clarity to understand what God was teaching me through my suffering. My wife and I went from one doctor to another searching for the correct diagnosis. We would silently sit in...

Tags: Sarah, Vayeira

The Power of An Idea

He had never received a communication from God. All he had was a conviction that God exists, One, and All-Powerful. He understood that the idols in his father’s factory were no more than dolls. They had no power. His ideas were dangerous. The entire power...

Tags: Genesis, Lech Lecha, Noah

The Hug: A True Story

Dvir Aminolav was the first Israeli soldier killed in the 2008 Gaza War. His mother Dalya missed Dvir, terribly. One night before she went to bed, she said in a loud voice: "G-d, give me a sign, give me a hug from Dvir so that...

Tags: Prayer

Forms of Prayer

Tens of people gathered to pray for the young mother of three who was mortally ill. The tears flowed. Everyone cried to God to save the family from tragedy. They prayed for thirty minutes and left. No one was smiling. It seemed to the rabbi that...

Tags: Prayer, Shema, Vaetchanan

Come Here!

"There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing." Blaise Pascal “And God called to Moshe from The Tent of Meeting saying.” Rashi goes to great lengths to describe how God called to Moshe. Calling...

Tags: Torah, Vayikra

Calling

“Each time that God spoke to, or said something to Moshe, He began by calling to him, in a loving manner, just as the angels are described by Isaiah as calling to each other before singing their praises of God.” “They heard the Kol –...

Tags: Torah, Vayikra, Yitro

Counting To Asarah BiTevet – Go To Your Room! Part Two

In “Go To Your Room Part One,” we applied Isaiah’s instruction, “Go, my people, enter your chambers, And lock your doors behind you. Hide but a little Until the indignation passes (Isaiah 26:20 - sefaria.org),” to quarantine, the Clouds of Glory, and even the Garden...

Tags: Bavel, Chatam Sofer, Nebuchadnezzar

Midrash Esther XI: The Angels Complain

“That in those days.” This was one of the occasions on which the ministering angels lodged complaints before the Holy One, Blessed is He, saying: “Sovereign of the Universe, the Sanctuary is destroyed and this wretch sits and makes parties!” God answered them: “set Davies...

Tags: Achashveirosh, Amalek, Daniel, Esther, Midrash, Nechemiah, Purim, Shabbat, Suffering

A Different Sort of Doctor

I recently had a talk with a different sort of doctor. As he described his frustration dealing with other doctors and insurance companies he spoke of how he deal with patients: “I always call my patients a day or two after I see them to...

Tags: Elul, Rosh Hashana, Shofar, Shofetim

Shofetim: Nicknames & Judges

Everyone is focused on their walks, jogs, or runs. We do not say more than “Good Morning” to each other, although usually we just nod our heads in greeting. We don’t know each other’s names, but we all have nicknames: There is “Backwards Charlie”, who...

Tags: Bible, man & God, man & man, Portion of the Week, Rosh Hashanah, Shofetim

The Violence of Silence

It happened, as I knew it would. We received a hate filled comment to one of our blogs. How sad that such a thing is expected! How frightening that such things are so common that we can laugh and shrug them off! Then again, I prefer...

Tags: Kedoshim

Counting Toward Asarah BiTevet – Meet Your Soul

We have already studied Isaiah’s teaching, “Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?” Because on your fast day You see to your business And oppress all your laborers (58:3 - sefaria.org)!” Please see, “Fasting...

Tags: Clouds of Glory, Ibn Ezra, Pharaoh, Yesod Morah

Countdown To Chanukah 8 – The Hallel of The Sun

As Rabbi Levi said: Why is a person’s voice not heard during the day in the manner that it is during the night? It is due to the fact that the sound of the sphere of the sun traversing the sky generates noise like the noise...

Tags: Rekanati, Yomah, zohar

Countdown To Chanukah 19 – Fueled By Energized Mitzvot

Tags: Sefat Emet, Shabbat Candles, zohar

The Architecture of Proximity

My father’s lap, while he sat in his big white Lazy-Boy and taught, was a world all to its own. An exquisite sense of safety in every sense of the word, emotionally, physically, all while exploring different worlds of Torah, science, literature, and all sorts...

Haftarah: Chayei Sarah: The Best in Us

Kings 1 Chapter 1: The great King David had become an old man. I grieve to read how this mighty warrior, sage ruler and spiritual leader of generations of souls, is described as weak and so feeble

Tags: Chayei Sarah, Haftarah, Kings

Kavanot-Kabbalat Shabbat-Elul & Days of Awe-Psalm 95

Moses had seen the Children of Israel at their best when they stood before Sinai and chose to engage in an eternal conversation with God. Moses saw the Children of Israel at their worst when he rushed from Sinai to present God’s gift of the Two...

Tags: Elul, Genesis, Kabbalat Shabbat, Ki Tisa, Man's Soul, Mishpatim, Prayer, Rosh Hashana, Shabbat, Tehillim

Amidah-Vayakhel-Da’at Following Kedushah

The 23rd of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of the Chiddushei HaRim: “Stone cutting for setting, and wood carving, to perform every craft of design (Exodus 35:33).” Betzalel intuited how to fill even a heart of stone with enough sanctity

Tags: Amidah, Ezekiel, Haftarah, Parah, Prayer, Vayakhel

Countdown to Pesach-25-Shemen HaTov

Rav Shmelke taught: We read, “I have compared you, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots (Song of Songs 1:9).” The Mechilta (Exodus 14:25) explains that when the chariots of the Egyptians entered the Red Sea, the force

Tags: Beshalach, Haggadah, Pesach, Prayer, Song of Songs

Countdown to Pesach-30-Ohel Shlomo

The Radomsker said, “We read, ‘And Joseph died, and all his brethren and all that generation. And the Children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly (Exodus 1:6-7).’ A soul, usually, does not wish to descend to earth

Tags: Morning Blessings, Pesach, Shemot

Morning Blessings-Mishpatim-A Dual Mission

The Chiddushei haRim cites the passage in the Talmud (Shabbat 88a) which says that at the revelation of the Torah at Sinai, God raised the mountain over the heads of the assembled people of Israel and said to them, “if you

Tags: Mishpatim, Morning Blessings, Prayer

Prayer Skills-Vaeira-Joyful Prayer

When you perform a mitzvah for the sake of heaven, to fulfill the wishes of God, Who spoke and His will was done, you will arouse all the worlds, from the lowly, compound world of Assiyah, through the countless

Tags: Prayer, Psalms, Vaeira

So What-Prayer Skills-Vayechi-Rav Hirsch

“And Israel said to Joseph, ‘I had no longer thought “lo fillalti,” it possible to see your face, and behold, the Lord has allowed me to even see your children (Genesis 48:11).”

Tags: Amidah, Prayer, Vayechi

Eikev: In Name, Without Reality

The Name Without the Reality A student who does not study the appointed themes is not a real student. A mourner who feels no grief when condoling with the bereaved is not a real mourner. An old servant who neither tidies things away nor chatters about family affairs...

Tags: Bible, Eikev, Portion of the Week, Prayer, Shema

The Music of Halacha: Kashering

Dear Rabbi Weinberg; I have heard you say on numerous occasions that the laws of Kashering are a guide to repairing spiritual damage. Since the laws of Kashering are in this week’s Parsha, Matos, “Everything

Tags: Ezekiel, Matot, Music of Halacha, Repentance, Torah

Responding To Laughter

“This is the decree of the Torah.” Because Satan and the scoffers ridicule Israel for observing the law of the Parah Adumah, which does not seem to make any sense, God declares, “It is a decree from Me. You have no permission to question it!” My father...

Tags: Chukat, Parah, Red Cow

Haftarah: Korach: Prophet to King

Samuel I 11:14-12:22: The Children of Israel no longer wanted a prophet at their helm. The days of Moshe the prophet-king, Joshua the prophet-warrior, the instability of the era of the Judges, and Samuel the prophet

Tags: Haftarah, Korach, Prophecy, Samuel

Inconsistencies: A Memory

I was all of 16 years old, and was quite confused. I had serious questions about how people use Judaism to relate to God, and I was asked to meet once a week with public school students and answer their questions. It was pouring that night...

Tags: Shelach

The Emperor’s New Clothes

“Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb son of Jephunneh, of the spies of the land, tore their clothes.” (Numbers 14:6) Whose clothes did they tear? The Kotzker explains that they tore the clothes of high position off the backs of the other spies. The first...

Tags: Jewish Thought, Portion of the Week, Shelach, Spies, Torah

Haftarah: Nasso: Identity

Judges 13:2-25: From the opening moments of the Samson story, the participants do not understand their roles. The verse introduces Manoah, but then describes how the angel appeared to his wife, not to him. He did not understand

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso, Samson

Nevertheless!

"Akavia ben (son of) Mehalalel said, consider three things and you will not come to sin. Know from where you have come, to where you are heading, and before Whom you will give justification and accounting. From where have you come: from a putrid drop...

Tags: Morning Blessings, Pirkei Avot

Peace Within

"Rabbi Chanina the deputy [High] Priest said, pray for the welfare of the government (literally, “the monarchy”), for if not for fear of it, a person would swallow his fellow live." Some people astound me. Rabbi Yosef of Couci, the author of Sefer Mitzvot Hagadol, suffered...

Tags: Forgiveness, Nasso, Pirkei Avot

Interview With The Cohen Gadol

The BNN, The Biblical News Network, is proud to announce that we have been granted the privilege of an exclusive interview with the Cohen Gadol, focusing on his experiences in the Kodesh Hakodashim, The Holy of Holies, over the past 25 years. Rabbi Aronson has agreed...

Tags: Acharei Mot, BNN, Emor

Haftarah: 7th Day Pesach: A Life of Song

Samuel 2 22:1-51: I hope that in the final days of my life that I will be able to reflect on all that happened to me, good and bad, and rather than focus on what I did right

Tags: Haftarah, Pesach, Samuel

Passionate & Calm

There is a gentle sleep Where sweet peace dwells, Where quiet rest heals The weary soul’s sorrow. Ernst Koch I am always taken by the powerful contrast between the fiery passion of Nadav and Avihu, which led to their death, and their father, Aaron’s quiet grief and mourning. The man...

Tags: Shemini

Kol Tzofaich: Zachor: Shared Roots

“The word of God came to Samuel, saying, “I have regretted that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from Me and has not fulfilled My word!” It aggrieved Samuel and he cried out to God the entire night.” “Samuel went to Ramah;...

Tags: Haftarah, Ki Tisa, Prophecy, Purim, Samuel, Saul, Zachor

Too Many Memories?

“And Daudet said the most foolish thing to me. Perhaps he thought that it might console me. He told me that I would have my memories. But my memories are of no use to me. I told him that I never had any interest in...

Tags: Purim, Zachor

Something To Say

“Moses assembles the entire assembly of Israel.” (35:1) Rashi explains that Moshe did not actively assemble the people. He used words to have them gathered. Which words did he use? If he said, “Please assemble”, Rashi would not be making an important point. He still gathered them...

Tags: Mishkan, Shabbat, Vayakhel

From A Different Planet

I receive complimentary issues of all sorts of magazines every week and I usually end up feeling as if I live on a different planet. Are there really enough people who buy a $200,000 watch to merit an advertisement? What about $2,000 pants? Private jets?...

Tags: Chukat, Golden Calf, Ki Tisa, Parah

Haftarah Tetzaveh: The Shame of It

Ezekiel 43:10-27: “You, Son of Man, Tell the House of Israel of the Temple and let them be ashamed of their sins; and measure the design. And if they are ashamed of all they did - the form of the Temple and its design; its exits

Tags: Ezekiel, Haftarah, Mitzvot & their effect, Tetzaveh

Zooming In

“I am consumed by a more general sense of dread, of imprisonment within the dreary world of work and home,” he said in describing why he wanted to talk. We can travel the world, share fascinating experiences, explore the countless avenues of life and still feel...

Tags: Mishkan, Terumah

The Time Bandit

[caption id="attachment_1939" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Time Bandits"][/caption] He shaved a nanosecond off one note and added it to the next. This underhanded form of theft, known as rubato, is one way that soloists personalize a piece of music. It is a liberty taken with the composer’s...

Tags: Preparation, Revelation, Sinai, Yitro

Table Talk: Beshalach

Mixed Messages: At the beginning of the portion God chose to take Israel on an indirect route out of Egypt in order to prevent them from being exposed to war and being frightened

Tags: Beshalach, man & God, Mishlei

Spiritual Matters

[caption id="attachment_1737" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Spirituality"][/caption] Pharaoh had a problem. It doesn’t seem too serious, but it has the potential to explode. Moses arrived with Aaron to demand; “Let My people Go!” The people in question are not there. Oh! They set out with Moses and...

Tags: Shemot

Gratitude

[caption id="attachment_1729" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Gratitude"][/caption] What is the first thing you would say about Pharaoh? Would you mention that he was a killer? Or, would you start with the fact that he enslaved an entire nation? The verse introduces Pharaoh by saying, “He did not know...

Tags: Morning Blessings, Shemot

Table Talk: Vayechi

Debating the Future

Jacob was bidding farewell to Joseph and honoring the son’s remarkable accomplishments, but Jacob was still the father and patriarch.

Tags: Vayechi

Table Talk: Miketz

Quick Adjustments: Imagine being sold as a slave by your brothers, thrown into prison and not being treated as a full human being for thirteen years. You are suddenly summoned by

Tags: Miketz, Rosh Hashana

Table Talk II: Toledot

He Ain’t All Bad, Is He? The prophet Obadiah addresses Edom, the descendants of Esau, and says: “If you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there – the word of

Tags: Ovadian, Self-perfection, Toledot

Just That Little Bit Removed

Most of my students had been taken on the Gehinnom – Hell – tour to scare them into observing all the laws carefully. It was, to say the least, an unpleasant experience for all of them, and it didn’t seem to work. I decided to use...

Tags: Isaac, Toledot

Choosing Not To See

I was trying to turn right and was waiting for people to finish crossing the street. I considered forcing my way through, after all, it was New York City, but there was a policeman at the corner attempting to direct traffic. Some drivers and pedestrians...

Tags: Toledot, Vayeira

The Music of Halacha: A Prayer For The Journey

One who is about to go on a trip should recite the Traveler’s Prayer.1

Tags: Blessings, Music of Halacha

Strivers

I have a friend who, I believe, is a true Holy person. He is a great teacher, soul-doctor, composer, and human being. I described him as “Holy” in a Tweet, and he laughed it off. I won’t let go. I believe that although he may...

No Monsters Allowed

“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.” Fredric Nietzsche - From Beyond Good and Evil How ironic that he did not heed...

Tags: Confessions, Vidui, Yom Kippur

Avinu Malkeinu: The Full Cup

Our Father, Our King, fill our hands from Your blessings. Our Father, Our King, fill our storehouses with abundance. Nan-in, a Japanese Zen master during the Mejii era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full,...

Tags: Elul, Rosh Hashana

Inconsistencies III: Fleas On My Mind

I can’t catch this tiny thing! The computer screen’s light attracts it and it keeps on flying in front of me, and when I wave it away, it flies near my ear to make a tortuous sound. A tiny bug is proving a greater adversary...

Tags: Bible, Shelach

A Planet-Eating Sun

The Hubble space telescope has discovered a planet in our galaxy in the process of being devoured by the star that it orbits, according to a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The doomed planet, dubbed WASP-12b, has the highest known surface temperature of any...

Tags: Bible

Applies To Me

“One who sees the Sotah in her shame, shall become a Nazir.” My Rebbi, HaRav Yochanan Zweig, asks how thirty days of being a Nazir is more powerful than watching the Sotah explode? He compares this to people who drive by an accident without stopping...

Tags: Nasso, Nazir, Sotah

With A Pen In Hand – Or – Why I Keep My "Service of God" Notebooks

“With a pen in hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.” G.C. Lichtenberg (1780) Solomon’s Temple did not survive the Babylonians. His pen survived the Babylonians, the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusades, pogroms, Germans, and everyone else...

Tags: Bible, King Solomon, Shir Hashirim, Song of Songs, Torah

A Sense of Wonder

The sense of wonder that is our sixth sense. And it is the natural religious sense. D.H. Lawrence “Tell me father, why do we dip the Karpas?” “We do it so that you will ask that question.” I never liked that answer. We dip the Karpas just to make our children...

Tags: Haggadah, Karpas, Maggid, Pesach, Questions

Finding The Words

“This primary intuition of the strangeness of it all, of our single selves as unspeakably fragile and brilliant observers of a grandeur for which we have tried through all our generations to find words, this is the experience that seems to me to underlie religion....

Tags: Haggadah, Maggid, Pesach

Waiting

“The leaders brought the shoham stones and the stones for the settings of the Ephod and Breastplate.” (35:27) Rashi cites Rabbi Nattan (Bamidbar Rabbah 12:16) who notes that the word “nesiim”, leaders, is spelled without the two yuds that it would normally have. This defective spelling...

Tags: Leadership, Mishkan, Vayakhel

The Cave

My wife refers to my study as “The Cave.” I can’t blame her. It’s in the basement, damp and cold, without any natural light, and is quite crowded. You can understand why my skin turned green when we visited friends in Great Neck and I saw...

Tags: Lag BaOmer, Mishkan

Preparing For (8th – 9th &) Tenth of Tevet – Sources

“Thus said the LORD of Hosts: The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth month, the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month shall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah;...

Tags: Asarahh b’Tevet, Bavel, Ezekiel, Jerusalem, Siege, Tevet, Yechezkail, Yirmiyahu, Zecharia

Haftarah Ki Tisa Part Five

“Obadiah went toward Ahab and told him, so Ahab went toward Elijah.” It doesn't say that Obadiah went to Ahab, but rather that he went toward Ahab. This implies that all Obadiah did was turn in the direction of Ahab but Ahab was there.

Tags: Haftarah, Haftarot, Ki Tisa, Kings, man & man

Haftarah Ki Tisa Part Six

“Ahab sent among all the children of Israel and he gathered the prophets to Mount Carmel.” Why is it that Ahab "sent among the children of Israel," but he "gathered the prophets to Mount Carmel?" It seems that he only had to send

Tags: Haftarah, Haftarot, Ki Tisa, Kings

Haftarah Ki Tisa Part Eight

“Elijah said to the people, “I have remained a prophet of God by myself, but the profits of the Baal or 450 men.” We asked why Elijah claims to be the only prophet remaining to God. We also asked why Elijah seems to ignore the prophets

Tags: Good & Evil, Haftarah, Haftarot, Ki Tisa, Kings

Haftarah Ki Tisa Part Nine

“Elijah said to the people, “I have remained a prophet of God by myself, but the prophets of the Baal or 450 men. Let them give us two bulls; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it, and put it on the wood, but not apply fire; and I will

Tags: Haftarah, Haftarot, Ki Tisa, Kings

The Journey Ahead

“So he arose, and ate and drank; then he went, on the strength of that meal, forty days and forty nights, until the Mountain of God, Horeb (I Kings 19:8).” What did Elijah eat? If it was from the same cake, why did only this...

Tags: Bible, Elijah, Haftarah, Kings, Pinchas

Es mine kint

“Then he lay down and slept under a rosem-bush, and, behold this! An angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise! Eat!’ (I Kings 19:5)” In verse 2 we read of the “malach” sent by Jezebel. This is a different Malach, an angel of God....

Tags: Bible, Elijah, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Pinchas

The Challenges of Leadership

“But as for himself, he went a day’s journey into the wilderness; he came, sat under a rosem-bush, and requested his soul to die; and he said, ‘It is enough! Now, God, take my soul, for I am no better than my forefathers’ (I Kings...

Tags: Bible, Elijah, Haftarah, Pinchas, Suffering

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text VIII

“And Manoach got up and walked behind his wife, and she came to the man and he said to him, Are you the man who spoke to the woman? And he said, I am.”

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text VII

“And the woman hurried and ran and told her husband. And she said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, the one who came to me today.”

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text VI

“And the Lord heard the voice of Manoach, and the angel of the Lord came again to the woman, and she was sitting in the field, and Manoach her husband was not with her.”

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text V

Posted in honor of J.S. who will be studying this text on Shavuot in her quest to discover her Gadlut: “And Manoach prayed to God, and he said, Please God, the man of the Lord whom You sent should please come again to us, and...

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text IV

“And the woman came and she said to her husband saying, ‘A man of the Lord came to me, and his appearance as the appearance of an angel of the Lord, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he was from and he...

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text III

"Now therefore, please be careful, and do not drink fresh wine or old wine and do not eat anything impure. For behold, you will conceive and bear a son, no razor may touch his head, for a Nazir of the Lord, the boy shall be...

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah Nasso: Reading the Text II

“And an Angel of God appeared to the woman, and he said to her, ‘Behold please, that you are barren, and you have not given birth, and you will conceive and bear a son’.” It must have been important for the woman to realize that...

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Haftarah: Nasso: Reading the Text I

“And there was a man from Tzarah, from the family of Dan, and his name was Manoach, and his wife was barren and had not given birth.” The verse begins as if Manoach is to be the focus of our story. Yet, we will soon...

Tags: Bible, Book of Judges, Haftarah, Judges, Nasso, Samson

Haftarah: Nasso: Thematic Questions:

Why did the Angel appeared to only the mother, and not to the father? Even when the Angel appears to Manoach, it first appears to his wife and she has to go and get her husband. The obvious answer is that the prohibitions

Tags: Haftarah, Judges, Nasso

Table Talk: Bamidbar

No More Sinai: “God spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after their exodus from the land of Egypt, saying.” (Bamidbar 1:1)

Tags: Bamidbar, Bo, Man's Soul, Micah, Mishlei, Shemot, Table Talk

Haftarah Metzorah: Reading the Text IV

“They arrived and called out to the gatekeepers of the city and declared to them, saying, ‘We came to the Aramean camp and behold! Not a man or a human sound is there, only the horses are tethered, and the tents are as they were.’ The...

Tags: Bible, General Providence, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Metzorah

Haftarah Metzorah: Reading the Text III

These metzoraim arrived at the edge of the camp; they came to a tent and ate and drank. From it they carried away silver, gold, and garments, and went and hid them; then they returned and went to another tent, carried away from there, and...

Tags: Bible, General Providence, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Metzorah

Haftarah Metzorah: Reading the Text II

They stood up at evening to come to the Aramaean camp and they arrived at the age of the Aramaean camp, and behold! Not a man was there. God had caused Aramaean camp to hear the sound of chariots and the sound of horse, the sound...

Tags: Bible, General Providence, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Metzorah

Haftarah Metzorah: Reading the Text I

“Four men, were metzoraim, outside the gate; each one said to his friend, “why are we sitting here until we die? If we propose to come to the city, there is a famine in the city and we will die there, and if we remain...

Tags: Bible, General Providence, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Metzorah

Haftarah: Metzorah: There Is A Prophet In Israel

Kings II 7:3-20: This selection is one in a series of stories about the king of Israel and the Man of the Lord, both of whom are nameless in these chapters. The theme of the series is voiced by Elisha the prophet,

Tags: Haftarah, Kings, Metzorah

The Man

What did they say just before they constructed the Golden Calf? For this Moshe, the man, we do not know what happened to him. It does not say that we do not know what happened to Moshe, but rather, Moshe, the Man. They did not wonder if...

Tags: Golden Calf, Ki Tisa

The Purity of Clarity

Rashi on the portion begins by describing the meticulous process that was necessary to produce the oil for the Menorah. The oil had to have the purity of being clear, without sediment.: They would choose olives from the top of the tree that had not grown...

Tags: Menorah, Mishkan, Tetzaveh, Torah

Just Outside

Phaedrus (Plato) speaks of "Four Kinds of Divine Madness": Socrates begins by discussing madness. Madness given as a gift of the "god" provides us with some of the best things we have, and some of the most difficult. There are, in fact, four kinds of divine...

Tags: Mishkan, Terumah

Haftarah: Yitro: Seeds of Light

Isaiah 6:1-19: Fueled by success, seized by passion, confident that God blessed him, Uzziah, King of Judah, entered the Temple against the protests of the Kohanim to offer the Ketoret – Incense

Tags: Haftarah, Isaiah, Yitro, Yom Kippur

Trust

[caption id="attachment_1934" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Exactly What it Says"][/caption] There is a war between two clocks in my room. My alarm clock is connected to an atomic clock somewhere that constantly adjusts its time. It has the same time as my cell phone, which also claims...

Tags: God & Israel, Individual Providence, Yitro

Haftarah Beshalach: A Mother in Israel

Tragedy has struck Israel. Their progress has not only been stopped, it has been reversed. For the first time since Israel conquered the land of Canaan and transformed it into the Land

Tags: Beshalach, Haftarah, Judges, Vayishlach

Back To the Garden?

[caption id="attachment_1774" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Snake Trick"][/caption] A snake! Echoes of the Garden…in a portion about heroic women…something is going on. A snake? Leprosy? All because Moses questioned whether the Jews would believe him. Wasn’t that kind of drastic? It was Miriam’s fault! Moshe’s sister, was a formidable woman. Amram...

Tags: Adam's Sin/Garden of Eden, Genesis, Shemot

The Mouth

[caption id="attachment_1757" align="alignleft" width="292" caption="The Mouth"][/caption] I am fascinated by my grandson’s obsession with his mouth. I bought a pull-toy for him as a Chanukah gift, and he examined every piece with his mouth. Whenever he pulls a book from the shelf, he puts the...

Tags: Individual Providence, Shemot

Shofetim: The Power of Observation II

“But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is...

Tags: Bible, Portion of the Week, Shofetim, Torah

Reflection of Israel

“Go, Moshe, and say comforting words to the people; “God speaks to me only in your merit’. This is why we find that God did not speak to Moshe for the 38 years that Israel was in the desert waiting to die.” I believe that this...

Tags: Amos, Chukat, Vayikra

Table Talk: Vayeira: Partners & Breaking Connections

Partners: “And God said, ‘Shall I conceal from Abraham what I do?’” (Genesis 18:17) Why would God consider it ‘concealment’ to not inform Abraham about the impending destruction of

Tags: Vayeira

Countdown to Chanukah 7 – Healing Light

“And the sun shone for him (Jacob), [Bereishit 32:32 - sefaria.org]” Rabbi Berachia said, “And for whom did the sun not shine? Therefore, the verse is teaching us that the sun healed Jacob from his wound from the wrestling match, but for all other people,...

Tags: Malachi, Midrash, Shabbat Candles

Asarah b’Tevet Counting – Quarantine as Fasting

“God commanded the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon dry land (Jonah 2:11- sefaria.org).” The pressures of suffering - and tight space (either inside a pregnant fish for Jonah, or in quarantine and limited movement for us) are sufficient to cleanse Israel of our...

Tags: Jonah, Tikkunei Zohar, Yonah

Countdown To Chanukah 11 – Illuminating Path to Redemption

For some reason, no one consulted me about which Psalm to add to Chanukah prayers, but I have a few on my mind: This is one choice, Psalm 43: Vindicate me, O God, champion my cause against faithless people; rescue me from the treacherous, dishonest man. 2 For...

Tags: Aaron, Aharon, Malachi, Moses, Moshe

Countdown to Chanukah 13 -From Beginning to End

Toward the conclusion of Parshat Vayeitzei we discover, according to the Megaleh Amukot, two allusions to the Chanukah story: “Come, then, let us make a pact, you and I, that there may be a witness between you and me.” Thereupon Jacob took a stone (gal) and set...

Tags: Hallel, Jacob, Laban, Megaleh Amukot, Samuel, Saul, Vayeitzei

Hallel Lights – The Ever Increasing Joy of Becoming

(The night of the Plague of The Firstborn,) Pharaoh went out into the street and cried out, “In the past you were my slaves. Now you are free people; you exist only as servants of the Holy One Blessed is He. You must sing Hallel...

Amidah-So What-Shemot-Redemption-Certainty

“The King of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the first was Shifra and the name of the second was Puah (Exodus 1:15).” The verse

Tags: Amidah, Prayer, Shemot

Haftarah: Acharei Mot Kedoshim: The Prophet & The Priest

Amos 9:7-15: Under the long and brilliant reign of Jeroboam II, the Northern Kingdom (also called the Kingdom of Israel) reached the summit of its material power and prosperity, expanding its territory northward at the expense

Tags: Acharei Mot, Amos, Haftarah, man & man

The Immorality of Ingratitude

I had long planned to reread Silvia Townsend Warner’s "Mr. Fortune’s Maggot " for ideas applicable to the portion of Terumah with its plans for the construction of the Tabernacle. (If ever you want to join me envying geniuses who can read a book and...

Tags: Bereishit, Gratitude, Mishpatim, Morality, Revelation, Yitro

The Plan: Action!

Tags: Bo, Moshe, Pharaoh, Ten Plagues, Vaeira

The Plan: What’s Next?

Tags: Bo, Moshe, Pharaoh, Vaeira, Yesod Ha’Avodah

Here Live Monsters

There are spaces still to be filled before the map is completed- though these days it’s only in the explored territories that men write, sadly, Here lives monsters (Norman McCraig, Old Maps and New The Isles of the Blessed, Kibu, Hawaiki, Hufaidh, Thule, Fusang, Bermeja, Onaseuse, imaginary lands all, existed on maps,...

Tags: Bo, Moshe, Pharaoh, Vaeira

Wanderings

Please Note: I try to add a link to every reference. I have yet to figure out how to make it obvious, but until I do (meaning until Debbie shows me how), just click on a title mentioned and you will find the link. Thank you for...

Tags: Burning Bush, Goethe, Golden Calf, John Armstrong, Ki Tisa, Moses, Shemos, Shemot, William Atkins

Images Of Moses

There is a custom to cover the mirrors in a Shiva house. The only internal images I had of me were formed by many childhood pictures kept by Aviva that my sisters sitting Shiva in Baltimore were texting. By the second day of Shiva, my internal image...

Tags: Exodus, Helen Keller, Humility, Moses, Pharaoh, Shemot, Vision, Yitro

Siege of Pains

As I was reflecting on “Repairs Required,” wondering whether, and how much a role, the brothers’ inability to take Joseph at face value played in the insecurities that led the extended family to be vulnerable to Egyptian social pressure, I had to reflect on forgiveness: It...

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, Chronic Pain, Forgiveness, Joseph and his Brothers, Ten Martyrs, Trust

Repairs Required

“Busy remaking the world, man forgot to remake himself (Andrei Platonov, Nursery of the New Man).” My limited understanding of Platanov, based on “Soul and Other Stories,” is that he understood that the Soviet communists were convinced they could successfully remake the world. Their failure to remake...

Tags: Andrei Platonov, Joseph, Joseph and his Brothers, Vayechi

GPS To Egypt

How did Jacob get from Canaan to Egypt without GPS? I consider Debbie one of the smartest people I have ever met in my life. Yet, a mysterious obnoxious woman hiding somewhere in our car’s radio treats her like an idiot. We often wonder if this woman...

Tags: Jacob, Ladder, Vayeitzei, Vayigash

FedHeads

Our obsession with celebrities is not new. Long ago, Pharaoh understood the need to have the newly freed young man transformed into something bigger than life, before, he placed Joseph over Egypt: ‘And removing his signet ring from his hand, Pharaoh put it on Joseph’s hand;...

Tags: Abraham, Adam, David, Jacob, Joseph, Lech Lecha, Miketz, Moshe, Nimrod, Vayechi

Looking For Babel V – Reverberations

There are times when Eric Kaplan is the “fun” guide through a maze of thoughtful challenges, such as in, “Does Santa Exist?” Some of his blogs remind me of the more stern professor, such as in yesterday’s, “America, The Land of the Dead.” Then, there are the...

Tags: Dispersion, Eric Kaplan, Flood, Halacha, Jonathan Spence, Mabul, Matteo Ricci, Noach, Noah, Sefer Hayashar

The Secret Language of Silence

“Listing is a fundamental literary strategy. It occurs constantly, and only occasionally draws attention to itself (William Gass, “I’ve Got A Little List).” One must meet the Lord High Executioner of the Mikado for the Original List. Not to be outdone by Gilbert and Sullivan we have...

Tags: Communication, Israel, Jacob, Joseph and his Brothers, Miketz, Silence, Vayigash, Yisrael

Each Step

Immediately upon moving to New York City from Los Angeles I had to pay attention to all the issues of living in a new city and examine them through the eyes of Halacha. I would step out the door of the brownstone on 79th and usually...

Tags: Chesed, Halacha, Mechitza, Metzorah, pets, Tzedaka

Story Magic IV – Yetzer/Creativity

I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of...

Tags: Evil Inclination, Jacob, Josef, Miketz, Vayeishev, Vayeitzei, Vayishlach, Yetzer

Story Magic Part Three – Mapping Journeys

One of the innumerable reasons for revering Homer Simpson is that he once coined a memorably pithy definition of fiction. At the end of one episode of The Simpsons the family is shown mulling over the preceding plot-line in an endeavor to discern what lesson...

Tags: Angels, Eisav, Esau, Jacob, Laban, Lavan, Vayeitzei, Vayishlach

Joseph and The Condemned Man

Tags: George Orwell, Joseph, The Hanging, Victor Hugo

Counting to Asarah BiTevet – Go To Your Room! Part One

I have the great pleasure of regularly studying with incredible people, one of whom suggested that we consider quarantine, and the Siege of Jerusalem/Tenth of Tevet as a “Go To Your Room For A Timeout!” I offer her insights below as an introduction to an important...

Countdown to Chanukah 5 – The Fiery Sword

“He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life (Bereishit 3:24 - sefaria.org).” “He said: The LORD came from Sinai; He shone upon them from Seir;...

Tags: Cherubim, Keruvim

Countdown to Chanukah 6 – The Curmudgeon

I am considering becoming a curmudgeon for both religious and financial reasons. For those of you who read, “Fasting Training Exercises,” I am not breaking my “fast”; I am considering becoming a temporary curmudgeon. For those who already consider me an ungrateful grouch,...

Tags: Gratitude, Hoda'ah, Menorah, Miracles

Counting To Asarah BiTevet – Fasting Training Exercises

We took a first look at Isaiah the Prophet (58:3) question, “Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?” Although it is rhetorical, a tool to have Hashem explain what is lacking from our fasting,...

Tags: Anger, frustration, Lishon Harah, Loshon Horah, Midot, Personal Characteristics, Yosher Divrei Emes

Counting Toward Asarah BiTevet – It Matters To God!

Even Isaiah the Prophet (58:3) asks, “Why, when we fasted, did You not see? When we starved our bodies, did You pay no heed?” Does our Fasting on Asarah BiTevet matter? Does it accomplish anything for Israel, for me, for Hashem? The Ramchal (Messilat Yesharim, Chapter 19)...

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, Messilat Yesharim, Ramchal, zohar

Countdown To Asarah BiTevet – Fasting From Negativity

The Tenth of Tevet is sad enough even before we tack on the eighth and ninth for other reasons. We also learned from the Kuzari that “God Prefers Joy.” I think we all agree that we have had more than enough sad days over the past nine...

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, charoset, Joy, Marror, Matzah, Rabbi Meir of Premishlan, Seder

Countdown or Countup (Can’t Decide) To Asarah b’Tevet 2 – God Prefers Joy

Why begin a 30 Day Countdown to a Fast Day, Asarah b’Tevet? Do we not live with expectation the, over the next thirty days, it (and the Eighth and the Ninth) will be transformed into a Festival: As Rav Ḥana bar Bizna said that Rabbi Shimon Ḥasida...

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, Kuzari

The Squabble

Once we begin studying the battles of Jacob’s life, I naturally consider rereading Nikolai Gogol’s, “The Squabble.” As mentioned in “Jacob’s Chanukah Journey,” I’ve been finding myself trapped in Introductions and Forwards, and Patrick McCabe’s essay reflecting on “The Squabble,” has me stuck in the boxing...

Tags: BNN, Eisav, Toledot, Vayeitzei, Yaakov

Countdown To Chanukah 25 – Singing Hallel Celebrating God’s Invitation

“O my dove, in the cranny of the rocks, Hidden by the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet And your face is comely (Song of Songs 2:14 - sefaria.org).” Rabbi Eliyahu interpreted the verse as referencing...

Tags: Gratitude, Hoda'ah

Countdown To Chanukah 27 – A Good Eye

Countdown to Chanukah 27 - A Good Eye I find it fascinating that although we so honor the miracle of the Menorah oil of the Chanukah story, there is a natural miracle that parallels the oil described in a verse: “The generous man is blessed, For...

A Kedem Compass

It’s a challenge when even Amazon doesn’t carry one. I need a special compass each year to find a magical place called “Kedem” when positioning my Succah. A common Yom Kippur refrain, “Bring us back, O God, toward You, And let us come back; Renew our...

Tags: Bereishit, cain, Jonah, Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

Countdown to Pesach 2-Lessons From the Exodus

A Chassidic master said, “In the Bible, human beings are compared to trees. A tree grows if it is healthy, but you cannot watch it grow. So should it be with the human personality. It should grow toward greater perfection,

Tags: Pesach

Prayer Skills-Terumah-That Dwells Amidst Their Imperfections

Thoughts that disturb your prayers can be an atonement for your sins. When you are not suspicious of God and believe that He certainly wants to draw you close and accept your prayers, that the only thing that brings about confusing

Tags: Mishkan, Prayer, Terumah

Halfway There

As we read the Historical Background of this week's Haftarah and the story in the Haftarah we cannot fail to notice how often people rise to extraordinary positions and accomplishments, successfully battle evil, only to have them fall and fail just like the wicked people...

Tags: Amidah, Haftarah, Kings, Mishpatim, Shekalim

Haftarah-Vayechi-Reading the Text-David and Yoav I-Abner Part Four

In our journey of “Balance,” “David, Yoav & Abner I,” “Part Two,” and, “Part Three,” we’ve been studying David’s opening charge to Solomon urging him to balance his dual roles as person and king (Be a Man). We have watched as Joab battles the king’s...

Tags: Abner, Balance, Bible, Haftarah, Joab, King David, King Solomon, Kings, Vayechi

Elijah's Vision

“And He said, ‘Go forth and stand on the mountain before God; and behold! God is passing, and a great, powerful wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the God; but the God was not in the wind; and after the...

Tags: Haftarah, Kings, Pinchas

Contradictions

There are contradictions in the Parah Adumah. The Cohen who purifies others becomes impure as he purifies. There are contradictions in the Parah Adumah just as there are contradictions in life. Judaism, torah, nurture our independence. They use our drive to become something to attach us to...

Tags: Chukat, Parah, The Red Heifer

Signals

My wife and I met a couple we haven’t seen in more than fourteen years. We, all, were truly happy to see each other, but fourteen years is a huge gap, especially when both couples have been through so much. How do you connect after...

Tags: Leadership, Shelach, Shema

The Music of Halacha: Hiding in Halacha

I become very uncomfortable when someone has justification, serious and valid halachic justification, for speaking negatively of someone else, known as Lishon Harah. I can't argue with the justification. There are times

Tags: Husband & Wife, Man, Music of Halacha, Torah

A Look Inside

“The world always looks straight ahead, as for me, I turn my gaze inward. I fix it there and keep it busy. Everyone looks in front of him, as for me, I look inside of me.” Michael de Montaigne. I think of the Mishkan, the...

Tags: Mishkan, Mishlei, Tabernacle, Terumah

Stairs & Ramps

[caption id="attachment_1945" align="alignleft" width="222" caption="A Mini Rocky"][/caption] After spending two years walking with Canadian crutches, and then a walker for a few years, I look at stairs and ramps with all sorts of mixed feelings. I used to look up at even just a few...

Tags: Mishkan, Yitro

Nicolini & The Lions

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The Lion"][/caption] A great debate raged in early 18th century London: Was the lion battled by the Cavalliere Nicolini Grimaldi in the opera "Rinaldo" live, a real beast of the jungle, or was it only an actor in disguise? I often wonder...

Tags: Beshalach, Judges

Table Talk: Vaeira

The Theme of the Plagues

Each plague is described as having a different purpose. Blood: 7:17, Frogs 8:6, Lice 8:15, Wild Beasts 8:18, Plague 9:7, Boils 9:11, Hail 9:14 -16. Can you map the steps in the

Tags: General Providence, Vaeira

Envy

[caption id="attachment_1741" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Envy"][/caption] Joseph never experienced envy, at least not to the degree his brothers were infected by the green monster. I wonder how he would have handled the experience after everything he suffered because of their envy. I suspect that the Sages were...

Tags: Shemot, Vayechi

The Protection of Chessed

As I was growing up, people would describe Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky zt”l as a great Tzaddik, and his cousin, my grandfather, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak HaLevi Ruderman, as a great Torah Sage. After my grandfather passed away, I read an article in L’eylah Magazine by Dr. Joel...

Tags: Abraham, Chesed, Genesis, Lech Lecha, Vayeira

The Matzah of Humility

The broken Matzah reminds us that a poor person may not even possess a complete Matzah. He must live with very little. He has nothing. The Matzah itself is a symbol of poverty; it has only the very basics of flour and water. It is fair to...

Tags: Haggadah, Humility, Matzah, Pesach

Hiding Places

I find it interesting that we name the part of the Seder when we eat the found Afikoman, Tzafun,” or “Hidden,” rather than “Found.” One of my favorite parts of the Seder is when my children, now older so it’s OK, have failed to find...

Tags: Afikoman, Haggadah, Pesach, Tzafun

Elul: Only A Second

“God, your Lord, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring.” (Deuteronomy 30:6) The first letters of “your heart and the heart of your offspring” spell Elul. It only takes one second for a person to change. Change is not a skill reserved for...

Tags: Elul, Jewish Holydays, Ki Tavoh, Repentance, Rosh Hashana

Dancing

Amidst our people here is come The madness of the dance. In every town there now are some Who fall upon a trance. It drives them ever night and day, They scarcely stop for breath, Till some have dropped along the way And some are met by death. So goes a grim ditty...

Tags: Personal Essay, Repentance

Rereading the Stories: Moshe's Goodbye

Clambering up the Cold Mountain path, The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on: The long gorge choked with scree and boulders, The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass. The moss is slippery, though there’s been no rain. The pine sings, but there’s no wind. Who can leap the world’s ties And sit...

Tags: Bible, Devarim

Envy

"Envy is the religion of the mediocre. It comforts them, it soothes their worries, and finally it rots their souls, allowing them to justify their meanness and their greed until they believe those to be virtues. Such people are convinced that the doors of heaven...

Countdown To Chanukah 2 – Strength From Hallel

“One can use songs and tunes to ease the burdens of work, even in service of God, just as we see physical laborers often sing to lighten their load (Tiferet Yisrael; Avot 1, Yachin 38). When the verse (Psalms 113 - First Paragraph of Hallel) describes,...

Tags: Joshua, Midrash, Pirkei Avot, Yalkut Shimoni

Countdown To Chanukah 9 – The Light In Their Faces

The Chidah reports that he saw the face of the Penei Yehoshua and it was, the Chidah was certain, shining as the face of the Highest Angels. It was so, explained Rav Azulai, because of Rabbi Falk was so committed to study with the purest...

Tags: Chidah, Penei Yehoshua

The Great Adventure

Those of you kind enough to read “The Squabble,” will know that my Time Machine is approaching its seventh decade, presuming my father gave me what was at the time, the newest model. Alas, we have to make frequent stops to recharge, although I do...

Tags: Abraham, Binding of Isaac, Isaac, Jacob, Moriah, Sinai, Vayeitzei

Countdown To Chanukah 25 – Singing Hallel Celebrating God’s Invitation

Tags: Gratitude, Hoda'ah

Countdown To Chanukah 26 – Glowing With Gobbled Light

“The climate quickly changed to cold and the trees burst into color, the reds and yellows you can’t believe. It isn’t only color but a glowing, as though the leaves gobbled the light of the autumn sun and then released it slowly. There’s a quality...

Countdown To Chanukah 29 – My Angels of Light

“and pierces the windows of the firmament (Shabbat Morning, Blessings of Shema).” [sefaria.org] Rabbeinu Yehudah ben Yakar calls our attention to the following verse to explain the intention of the word pierces: אָ֣ז יִבָּקַ֤ע כַּשַּׁ֙חַר֙ אוֹרֶ֔ךָ וַאֲרֻכָתְךָ֖ מְהֵרָ֣ה תִצְמָ֑ח וְהָלַ֤ךְ לְפָנֶ֙יךָ֙ צִדְקֶ֔ךָ כְּב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה יַאַסְפֶֽךָ׃ “Then shall your...

The Maps of My Planet

There is at the back of every artist’s mind something like a pattern or a type of architecture. The original quality in any man of imagination is imagery. It is a thing like the landscape of his dreams; the sort of world he would like...

Haftarah: Succot Day One:Everything is Upside Down

Zachariah 14:1-21: We reverse much of our reality on Succot. We move from our homes to the security and protection of a booth without a solid roof. Autumn, when much of nature is dying is filled with bursts of

Tags: Ha'azinu, Haftarah, Redemption, Succot, Zechariah

Haftarah: Emor: My Cohen

Ezekiel 44:15-31: What kind of experience will be my first offering in the Third Temple? I imagine I will feel awesome excitement. I want it to be perfect. There will be long lines of anxious people and probably hundreds of extra altars as occurred

Tags: Emor, Ezekiel, Haftarah

Table Talk: Emor

A Kingdom of Priests (Based on Exodus 19:6): “They shall not make a bald spot on their heads, and they shall not shave an edge of their beard.” (Vayikra 21:5) Rashi wonders why the Torah needed to specify the

Tags: Emor, Repentance, Table Talk, Yitro

Cheating

Whenever I am asked for my predictions for the future I become irritable and think of Horace. Horace, himself a poet, already confessed that he let many things pass rather than make an enemy of the irritable genus of poets; and poets, are irritable still. Reading of...

Tags: Kedoshim

Table Talk: Vayikra

Back to the Beginning: “Adam – a man, who wants to bring an offering to draw closer to God,” Rashi wonders about the choice of the word, Adam rather than Ish. He explains that God is teaching us

Tags: Genesis, Isaiah, Leadership, Offerings, Table Talk, Vayikra, Yitro

Being There

My father zt”l always told me that until I understood what motivated some Japanese during WWII to slice open their stomachs in order to protect their pictures of Emperor Hirohito, would I understand what it means to relate to God as king. I tasted the experience...

Tags: Shabbat, Terumah, Torah, Tzedaka

Heart Plaques

Perhaps I was wrong about the plaques. I would definitely hate seeing plaques in the Third Temple, although if one of you, my dear friends, wants to dedicate the Weinberg Holy of Holies, or even better, the Weinberg Foundation Stone, I will be honored! Embarrassed,...

Tags: Mishkan, Terumah

Plaque Free

There are some many memorial plaques on the walls of one of the dormitories in the Yeshiva that everyone refers to that wing as “The Morgue”. I understand; “Ya gotta do what ya gotta do!” I shouldn’t complain. You can find 2,000 year old engravings on...

Tags: Mishkan, Terumah

Limited Vision

[caption id="attachment_1862" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Pharaoh's Sign"][/caption] We said that it was only at the moment Pharaoh said, “See, there is evil destined for you”, that the blood, Pharaoh saw in the stars, appeared, because. it was only at that moment, when Pharaoh began to bend,...

Tags: Bo, Haggadah, Pesach

I'm So Concerned For You!

[caption id="attachment_1858" align="alignleft" width="90" caption="Concern"][/caption] Moses, I care about you. You are like a son to me. I don’t want you to go because, “See, there is evil destined for you!” Ludicrous, isn’t it? Moses and Aaron deliver their warning of the devastation of the locusts. Pharaoh’s...

Tags: Bo, Haggadah, Pesach

Haftarah Discussions: Shemot

Coming As Jacob: “Days are coming when Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill the face of the earth like fruit.” Many of the Chassidic masters play with the

Tags: Haftarah, Isaiah, Redemption, Shemot

The Future

[caption id="attachment_1733" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Controlling The Future"][/caption] Pharaoh was in trouble. He believed in astrology and the stars spelled his eventual doom. A Jew/Egyptian would be born on a specific day, who would topple the king and destroy Egypt. Pharaoh did what he needed to...

Tags: Shemot

The Music of Halacha: Lighting the Chanukah Candles Part Two

The first mention I can find of the order for lighting the Chanukah candles is in Sefer Tashbetz (Rabbi Shimshon bar Tzadok) where he describes how his Rebbi, the Maharahm (Rabbi Meir ben Baruch of Rothenburg 13th Century) lit his Menorah: The Maharam first lit...

Tags: Chanukah, Mitzvot & their effect, Music of Halacha

An Uncomfortable Conversation: Part Two

There was no way she would allow people to pray for her precious baby to die! (See ‘An Uncomfortable Conversation: Part One’) She read every newspaper published in Israel from beginning to end. She watched the BNN all day, and listened to the all-news station...

Tags: Exile, Shofetim

An Uncomfortable Conversation: Part One

She was incredibly proud that her son had succeeded her husband and was appointed the Kohen Gadol - The High Priest. Most of her friends congratulated her, but her oldest friend asked a strange question: “What are you going to do about all the people...

Tags: Exile, Shofetim

Ever Since Babel

Ever since Babel we have been wondering about ladders and towers that reach the heavens. The first ladder to heaven didn’t turn out very well. The next one, in Jacob’s dream was awesome, but it was only a dream. The actual ladder does not appear...

Tags: Bible, Noah, Shelach, Vayeitzei

Receiving The Blessing

Five of us would gather in one of the Yeshiva classrooms and have our own “Minyan.” We were all between six and seven-years-old and could not wait for another lifetime before becoming bar-mitzvah and being the Chazzan in the Yeshiva davening, or prayer service. (We...

Tags: Birchat Cohanim, Blessings, Cohanim, Nasso

Crossing Boundaries

Early summer 1945: Britain was broke. Its cities lay in ruins, its citizens were shabbily dressed and its daily food and fuel would be strictly rationed for the next ten years. The world’s richest nation had become its biggest debtor. There were neither the resources...

Tags: Genesis, Mishpatim, Shavuot, Sinai

Contemplations

“Two men, both depressed, are conversing under Brunelleschi’s newly constructed dome. One of them lists a number of traditional remedies for low spirits, wine, music, the company of women, and exercise. But, to these he adds a new remedy; the contemplation of giant hoists of...

Tags: Shabbat, Tefillin, Terumah

The Voice & Its Sound

God’s voice stopped at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. It seems that what Moshe heard calling to him from the Mishkan was also only an echo. He only heard the actual voice of God when he was inside the Sanctuary. The Voice was...

Tags: Genesis, Prayer, Toledot, Vayikra, Yitro

Change

Something has changed: Rashi begins his commentary on the portion by teaching us that: “Each time that God spoke to, or said something to Moshe, He began by calling to him, in a loving manner, just as the angels are described by Isaiah as calling...

Tags: Isaiah, Torah, Vayikra, Yitro

Joseph and Asarah BiTevet: The Storm That Stole My Prayers

Tags: Asarah BiTevet, Babylonians, Chabakuk, Daniel, Habakuk, Jerusalem, Joseph, Sefer Hayashar, Sefer Yuchsin, Vayeishev

Asarah b’Tevet Counting – Quarantine as Fasting

Tags: Jonah, Tikkunei Zohar, Yonah

Prayer Skills-Multiple Troubles-Shulchan Aruch

The 13th of Nisan is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Yosef Karo: If a community has two troubles, they should only pray for mercy concerning one of them. They should say, “Even though we have many troubles in our hearts, we

Shofetim-Haftarah of Consolation #4

Isaiah Chapter 51:12 – 52:1:The fourth of the seven Haftarot of consolation is the middle point. This Haftara is the segue between the destruction and mourning of the Ninth of Av and the celebration of Creation and Life on Rosh Hashanah.

Tags: Haftarah, Isaiah

Hallel Rosh Chodesh Av Paragraph Five: Planting Seeds – Collecting Sparks

[caption id="attachment_5851" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Collecting Sparks"][/caption]Rabbi Yosef of Coucy reminds us that we were sent into exile for two purposes: 1) To plant seeds of God’s Light everywhere in the world, to become, “A light unto the nations.” 2) To collect the lost souls of...

Tags: God & Israel, Hallel, Rosh Chodesh, Tisha B'Av

Hallel Rosh Chodesh Av Paragraph Four: One Day We Will Look Back

[/caption]What is our vision for what we will do when we leave this exile? We will look back and realize, just as did King David, that all our struggles in exile served to make us independent and stronger. We declare what we will do with that...

Tags: God & Israel, Hallel, Rosh Chodesh, Tisha B'Av

Hallel Rosh Chodesh Av Paragraph Three: Expecting Blessing

[caption id="attachment_5845" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Showered With Blessings"][/caption]Why do we sing that we are about to begin a new stage in our existence? Why do we declare our commitment to always sing as the Servants of God? Why do we sing of our eternal hope that...

Tags: God & Israel, Hallel, Rosh Chodesh, Tisha B'Av

Hallel: Rosh Chodesh Av Paragraph One: Aways Your Servants

“And who recited this Hallel? The prophets among them ordained that Israel should recite it at every important epoch and at every misfortune — may it not come upon them! and when they are redeemed they recite [in gratitude] for their redemption (Pesachim 117a).” How did...

Tags: Hallel, Rosh Chodesh, Tisha B'Av

Singing Despite

A palm tree stands in the middle of Rusafa, Born in the West, far from the land of palms. I said to it: How like me you are, far away and in exile, In long separation from family and friends. You have sprung from soil in which you are...

Tags: Chukat

Survival Skills

To Whom the Mornings stand for Nights What must the Midnights – be! Emily Dickinson The last time we met Jacob he was saying, “The days of the years of my sojourns have been a hundred and thirty years. Few and bad have been the days of my...

Tags: Vayechi

To Forget

[caption id="attachment_2523" align="alignleft" width="242" caption="With Mixed Emotions"][/caption] When he loses he seeks, when he finds he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves he begins to forget. Yehuda Amichai - A Man in His Life I never cease to be amazed by our ability and need to...

Tags: Personal Essay

Haftarah Discussions: Toledot

I. “The Masa of the word of God to Israel through the hands of Malachi: “I have shown love to you,” says God, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?” (Malachi 1:1) Malachi’s prophecy

Tags: Haftarah, Malachi, Man's Soul, Prophecy, Toledot

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