“The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.” ~ Leo Tolstoy “All things are mortal, but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?” ~ Mark Twain When G-d said to Abraham “Go to yourself–Lech Lecha” what was He actually …
Podcast: Break Free from Your Slavery to God [27 mins] The Service of God The concept of serving God, when it is defined in lowly terms, corresponds to a person’s limited understanding of what he means by God. It is the service of a slave. It rises in stature …
In this weeks’ Torah portion we read: The whole earth was of one language and of common purpose. And it came to pass, when they migrated from the east they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another…….. “Come let us build …
Torah is about gaining the wisdom and empowerment to maximize the quality of your life and fully celebrate each day, specifically by reclaiming your inner godly self and connecting with the source of all life — God. Torah clarifies the essential beliefs that inspire and enable us to live a …
Said R. Simeon: Alas for the man who regards the Torah as a book of mere tales and everyday matters! If that were so, we, even we could compose a Torah dealing with everyday affairs, and of even greater excellence. Nay, even the princes of the world possess books of …
The generations following the sin of Adam and Eve proceeded upon a path of moral degeneration. Cain, in a jealous rage, impulsively killed his brother Abel. In the next generation, Tuvel-Kain perfected the crime of Cain through manufacturing weapons. Then, Lemach boasted to his wives of committing pre-meditative murder. Idolatry …
In addition to living in the sukkah and waving the four species, it is customary on Sukkot to read the Book of Ecclesiastes written by King Solomon. Our sages tell us that King Solomon was inspired to write this book when he realized in a psychic way that the Temple …
Yom Kippur is all about love and forgiveness. It’s about how we are always inseparably close to G-d. On Yom Kippur we get a glimpse of ourselves, our choices and our relationship to G-d from another perspective–G-d’s perspective. This is the transformational power of Yom Kippur that makes it into …
I find the contrast of Sukkot next to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur amazing. We just spent 10 heavy days, from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, immersed in intensive introspection, probing the depth of our souls to uncover our flaws and confront our mistakes, expressing heartfelt remorse for our wrongdoings …
When we take a bird’s eye view of the holidays that inaugurate the New Year, we see a collection of diverse and disturbing of images for G-d. The predominant image for G-d, on Rosh Hashanah, is King and Judge who is writing us into a cosmic Book of life or …