The Comfort Zone
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 spent...
Noah and the Carwash
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 -- have been a spiritual...
Like an Angel
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 family and guests,...
Return to Him With Love
It is amazing how our Sages set up the Torah readings, arranging them such that we often see an obvious connection to the time of year in which each portion is read. For example, Nitzavim is read before Rosh HaShanah every year, and talks about returning to G-d and...
Smelly Justice
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 translated as...
“I’m Your Father. I’m Still Here.”
"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 father, is...
