by Mordechai Dixler | Oct 22, 2010 | Lifeline
When unexpected guests arrive at Abraham’s tent, the Torah repeatedly emphasizes his hurry to serve them: “He ran to greet them… Abraham rushed to the tent… he said, ‘Hurry!’… Abraham ran to the cattle…” This is...
by Mordechai Dixler | Oct 14, 2010 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, our forefather Abraham is told to leave home. He is to journey to the Promised Land, where, G-d promises, Abraham will grow to be a great nation. But as we know, the Nation of Israel only develops after most of the intervening years are...
by Mordechai Dixler | Oct 7, 2010 | Lifeline
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling a sense of newness this week. The High Holidays and the subsequent 9-day holiday of Succos/Shemini Atzeres-Simchas Torah — all grouped, in the Al-mighty’s wisdom, at the beginning of the Jewish year —...
by Mordechai Dixler | Sep 17, 2010 | Lifeline
This year, Yom Kippur falls on Shabbos, the Sabbath. Yom Kippur itself is called “Sabbath of Sabbaths” in the Torah [Lev. 16:31] — but what is the connection? They seem to lie at opposite ends of the spectrum. On the Sabbath, we sit together with...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Aug 13, 2010 | Lifeline
In this week’s Torah reading, Parshas Shoftim in Deuteronomy, Israel is commanded to have judges and officers, those who maintain both justice and order. A judge in particular is required to be entirely unbiased, and not to accept ‘Shochad’, usually...
by Mordechai Dixler | Aug 6, 2010 | Lifeline
“You are children of G-d, your Master. You should not cut yourselves nor make a baldness between your eyes for the dead” (Deut. 14:1, Portion of Re’eh). No doubt that knowing we are children of G-d, that we can relate to Him as a child relates to a...
