Kindle the Empathy
One Friday, Daniel Goleman, renowned psychologist and Best Selling author of Emotional Intelligence, was going down to the subway during rush hour. Suddenly, he noticed a shirtless man curled up on the side of the staircase, not moving. Hundreds of people were just...
Recognizing Your Worth
In this week's reading, Yaakov works for his father-in-law, Lavan, for fourteen years, in return for the privilege of marrying Lavan's two daughters. Then he goes to Lavan and says, I have a family to feed as well, so I need to make some money for myself also. And in...
Same Old, Same Old
Isaac and Rebecca prayed intensely for children, after many years of barrenness. Each would stand in a corner of the room pleading to their Father in Heaven for the blessing of children. "G-d accepted his prayer, and Rebecca his wife conceived (Gen. 25:21)" Why was...
The Value of Money
In this week's Torah reading, Avraham sends Eliezer back to his family in Haran, to find a wife for his son Yitzchak. Eliezer prayed, describing the person he was looking for very simply: when I ask her to bring down her pitcher for me to drink, she will respond that...
Kind and Calculated
When three desert travelers are invited into Abraham's tent to join him for a meal, Abraham and Sarah treat them to a lavish feast. Butter and milk were laid out and meat, freshly slaughtered, was offered for these complete strangers. The Talmud even says a separate...
Can You Take a Visitor?
There are times, sometimes just moments, when we feel inspired and close to the Al-mighty. Maybe we're in the presence of a special person, in the final moments of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, or we witnessed the birth of a new baby. Those spiritual...
The Existence of Evil
What is the lesson of the Great Flood? We read this week that the world became so corrupt and evil that the only way forward was to start over. G-d sent the flood because "the earth had corrupted itself before G-d, and the earth was filled with violence." [6:11] Why...
Loving Confession
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is devoted to Teshuva, the process of returning to G-d. A special and repeated part of the Yom Kippur liturgy is the recitation of the Viduy prayer, admitting to and delineating our faults. "Ashamnu, we were guilty, Bagadnu, we...
Inspiring – and Inspired by – the Children
This week, we read about a Commandment to bring the entire nation of Israel together to hear the Torah. "Gather the nation together, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is within your gates..." [31:12] Rabbi Elazar Ben Azaryah asks, why bring the...
The Children Never Call
The congregation of Rabbi Aharon Karliner zt"l arrived at the haunting chant which begins the Rosh Hashanah morning service. The notes soared over the still congregants, the Rabbi in deep meditation. Then, they reached the crescendo with the first word of the service:...
Not Just “Going Through the Motions”
One of the Commandments that Moshe Rabbeinu addressed again in Deuteronomy is that of returning lost property. In this week's reading, the verse reads: "You shall not see the ox of your brother, or his sheep or goat, having wandered off, and ignore them; you shall...
One Thing
The sound of the Shofar can already be heard every morning in synagogues around the world. The Jewish month of Elul began this past Wednesday, a month of preparation for the holiest season of the year, the Yomim Noraim, the Days of Awe. Besides the sounding of the...
