by Mordechai Dixler | Nov 3, 2011 | Lifeline
Sometimes I hear voices — little voices. I could be at the verge of making a critical remark to a friend and a voice in my head tells me “Maybe you’re rushing to judgement. It’s possible his intentions were different.” Those voices,...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Oct 12, 2011 | Lifeline
On the holiday of Sukkos, the Torah instructs us to take four species and wave them together. It seems a quite random act, without obvious meaning. Naturally, Jewish Sages have provided explanations of the deeper meanings behind this apparently bizarre ritual. The...
by Mordechai Dixler | Oct 6, 2011 | Lifeline
Kol Nidrei, the opening prayer of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, comes at perhaps the most somber and awesome moment on the Jewish calendar. The melody is chilling, and it is said while Torah scrolls are held and a mood of seriousness engulfs the room. The...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Sep 27, 2011 | Lifeline
A few days ago, I was invited to a local gathering in memory of David (Moshe Yosef) Reichenberg, who gave his life trying to rescue a child from electrocution during the Hurricane. Rabbi Naftoli Reich of Ohr Somayach shared a thought that has a lot of relevance to the...
by Mordechai Dixler | Sep 22, 2011 | Lifeline
On the night of Rosh Hashana, many Jewish families have a custom to eat the head of a fish (gummy candy fish in my house) and say a short prayer playing upon the symbolism of the head. We pray that it be G-d’s will that in the coming year “we should be at...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Sep 16, 2011 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, G-d Commands us to bring our first fruits to the Temple, and recite a passage found in the Passover Haggadah: “An Aramite [attempted to] destroy my father, and he went down to Egypt… And the Egyptians oppressed us… and...
