At first glance prayer seems to be about whining and begging G-d, “Please heal this person … please bring me my soul-mate … please help my business, etc.” One could mistakenly think that G-d is holding out on us and gets pleasure watching us grovel. When we are faced with …
“For I made myself responsible for the naar youth — to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin forever… For how shall I go up to my father, if the youth be not with me? — Genesis 44:32-34 Although …
….the despotic kingdom of Greece rose up against Your people Israel to make them forget Your law and to lead them away from the statutes of Your will. (from the daily Chanukah prayer addition) Even though the Greeks wanted to do away with our commitment to Torah life, they found …
I’ve often asked people to describe their image of a Torah sage or a Tzaddik (holy person). Most people imagine a frail old man, pale, stooped over and often wearing thick glasses. Why can’t the person also be a woman or a young dynamic robust fellow? But most people, when …
Imagine you walk into a magic store where they sell special flashlights equipped with magic lights of different kinds. For example, you can buy the light of science, and when you point that flashlight at your hand, you see not a hand, but cells and blood vessels and tendons and …
In this week’s portion, Jacob asks for peace and relaxation but G-d had another plan. “Jacob settled (down) in the land of his father’s dwellings, in the Land of Caanan.” — Genesis 37:2 The foremost commentator, Rashi, explains: Jacob wanted to settle down in tranquility but then the ordeal of …
What is the difference between having fun and being happiness? Happiness is not dependent on an event, it is an inner state of being that does not happen to you but that you must achieve. Happiness is not a happening that you wait to happen, it’s a choice you have …
Very often religion is presented as offering the secret to ultimate happiness. I have heard religious leaders try to entice people towards a religious lifestyle promising them that through the synagogue or the church they will find happiness and bliss. People are hoping to find a quick and easy formula …
The prophet Hosea (14:2) calls, “Return, Israel, unto G-d, for you have failed in your transgressions.” Hosea did not say, “you have fallen,” but rather, “you have failed.” In other words, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik explains, we are not just sinners — we are failures. Our wrongdoings have made spiritual …
A few years ago I was counseling a couple on the brink of divorce. In a private session with the husband, he related to me that the key problem was his wife’s inability to forgive. To illustrate his point, he related to me an event, which as it turned out, …