by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | May 18, 2018 | Lifeline
Recent stories illustrate the need for a moral compass, guidance to find correct behavior. Current events have given me new insight into how urgently we need the Torah to lead us in every area of our lives. In an opinion piece appearing today, a writer in the Jewish...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | May 11, 2018 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, we learn about the commandment of Shmittah, the Sabbatical of the Land. The Torah says: “Six years shall you sow your field, and six years shall you prune your vineyards, and gather its produce. But in the seventh year, it will be a...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Apr 26, 2018 | Lifeline
We hear people speaking a great deal about “love your neighbor as yourself,” but not so much about the words which come before them. The full verse reads: “Do not take revenge, and do not bear a grudge against the children of your nation, and love...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Apr 19, 2018 | Lifeline
In this week’s Torah reading, the double portion of Tazria-Metzorah, most of our attention is directed to the phenomenon of Tzara’as, a spiritual blemish. People erroneously compare it to leprosy… but clothing and buildings don’t become...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Apr 12, 2018 | Lifeline
For seven days and nights, Aharon and his sons sat at the entrance to the Tabernacle, as they were commanded to do. Then the eighth day arrived, the first day of Nissan, a year after leaving Egypt, and it was time to bring the first offerings to G-d. Aharon first...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Mar 22, 2018 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, says something truly profound. He says: “I don’t know.” He says this in other places, for example about certain species that were unknown to him. But I don’t remember him saying this...
