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 …
Parsha Netzavim I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life that you may live, you and your seed. [Deut. 30:19] Goodness that isn’t chosen is not complete goodness. If we …
And you shall be happy in all that the Lord your G-d has given you (Deut. 26:11) Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. — Hellen Keller Money can’t buy you happiness, but …
“Who you are is God’s gift to you; who you become is your gift to God.” The Torah tells the stories of a whole collection of people who were not perfect, who were grappling with personal problems and difficult situations. Their greatest character strengths proved also to be their greatest …
When we read the Torah some of its laws disturb our moral sensitivities. When this happens we must remind ourselves of the purpose of the Torah. Not all the laws of Torah represent its ideals. Some of them may even seem to contradict the very ideal that they are serving …
Parsha Shoftim “I (G-d) will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto you (Moses); and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him” (Deut. 18: 18) The Torah claims that G-d revealed Himself to …
The general way people understand God is that there’s existence, and then there’s God in existence. Within that existence God has created little you and me. And so here we are in existence, standing alongside Almighty God. With that picture before our eyes, we cannot help but feeling very small, …
“Thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from your needy brother; surely open thy hand to him.” — Deut. 15:7-8 Is there a short-cut to the spiritual wealth of life? One of the most powerful and immediate ways to connect the circuit of life, and let the …
The Torah recounts how, before Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the first set of the tablets of the Ten Commandments, G-d told him that the Jewish people have created an idol — a golden calf. But Moses wasn’t alarmed; he was determined to bring the Jewish people the …
Parsha VaEtchanen “You who are bonded with the Lord, your G-d, are alive, totally, today.” — Deuteronomy, 4:4 G-d wants to give us the greatest pleasure — His presence in our lives; to feel connected to Him. We are therefore, commanded, “To love the Lord your G-d, listen to His …