You are browsing archives for
Can the Torah help us to heal from our past? In Parashat Toledot, we learn about two special brothers, Jacob and Esau – their upbringing and the relationships with their parents, whose issues and mistakes led to a dysfunctional family. No matter how dysfunctional they were, the stories in the Torah are meant to teach […]
The Torah guides us through the stories of men and women who have gone through what we face every day. No one knows their whole story, and where it doesn’t say, we can only guess. It is like 5 blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. One touched and described just the tail; […]
What do we “see” in Vayera! Vayera means “he appeared,” evoking the ideas of vision, revelation, and communication between the Creator and us. It is the Creator who approaches us because He wants to establish the same relationship with us as He had with Abraham Avinu, our father Abraham. Although the Almighty spoke to Abraham […]
Parashat Lech Lecha is rich with lessons for our lives. Here are just a few: Remember that we are not perfect. God made us “very good”; we are “good enough” to fulfill His purpose for our lives. Most people today don’t read the Torah for what it says; not even those who profess to be […]
If the whole of humanity continues to fail time and again, how will God bring blessing to the world? When I was younger, God gave me the opportunity to take on a leadership role. The first time I had to evaluate a group of employees, I had to let a young man go; I actually […]
Who will bring in Tikkun Olam? There is a term in Hebrew called “Tikkun Olam – תיקון עולם ” which means “Reparation of the world”. In certain ways, Israel was chosen to bring in Tikkun Olam, as we see in the Haftarah Portion in Isaiah 42:6, where it says that Israel was to be “Ohr […]
God’s seven Moedim (Appointed Times) are celebrations rich in meaning, designed to bring us back into a relationship with our Creator and give us hints about the future. Each Holy Day is a Shabbat, on which, “Kol malechet avda lo taasu כָּל-מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ” you shall do no servile work. I wondered about the […]
Would you like to have a date with God? This week we are celebrating the festival of Sukkot—a celebration so significant that it effectively breaks the cycle of Torah readings. I recently heard a Bob Marley song entitled “Waiting in Vain for Your Love” that reminded me a bit of this Torah portion. The song […]
As I was reading Haazinu, although I am not an artist, I pictured myself painting the words of this poem by Moses on a canvas. Over the years, I have seen how God keeps painting pictures for us with His words… words that bring balance and beauty to the image on the page, but as […]
As usual, I like to clarify certain Biblical understandings about things we have grown accustomed to believing. The term “Rosh Hashanah” specifically for one of the Moedim (the Appointed Times or Festivals).is not found in the Tanach, where it is called “Yom Teruah” (Leviticus 23). The verses begin with the greatest of the Moedim, the […]
