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8 Iya Deciding to Live What is life? What is death? Consciousness? Unconsciousness? These questions remind me of the words of a song performed by Kansas, an alternative rock band when I was young; it says, “all we are is dust in the wind”. I believe this idea falls short because it refers to the […]
The Power of the Tongue 1 Iyar “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and hers; it shall bruise your head and you’ll bruise his heel”. Bereshit 3:15 Parashat Tazria Metzora develops a theme which, from the beginning of creation has been a […]
24 Nisan Parashat Shemini begins “and it came to pass on the eighth day” but what had happened during the prior seven days? For that we have to go back to the end of the last parashah, Tzav where Aaron and his four sons were told not to leave the Tent for seven days and […]
Excerpt Taken from Ranebi’s Message on Nisan 17, 5780 Pesach: A Festival of Thanksgiving From Exodus 34:6-7, where the LORD is speaking to Moshe, our sages have drawn a beautiful teaching called “The 13 Attributes of the Bore Olam”. Let’s examine them and put them into today’s context. ו וַיַּעֲבֹר יְהוָה עַל-פָּנָיו, וַיִּקְרָא, יְהוָה יְהוָה, אֵל […]
10 Nisan Shabbat HaGadol To Obey or not to Obey, that is the Question. Tzav means “command”. Our Creator was commanding His people Israel and here, specifically Moshe, his brother, Aaron the Cohen HaGadol, and his sons. This one word alludes to the fact that we have Free Will. God wouldn’t command us to […]
Nisan 3 Taken from Ranebi’s message on Vayikra 5780 Can you sense that God is calling you? This third book of the Torah is Sefer Vayikra, known as Leviticus, and also called the Sefer HaCohanim, the […]
Is God Hidden from us Today? Prior to writing this message for Shabbat, a verse written in the letter to the Hebrews constantly came to my mind. It says: “GOD, having spoken at many times and in many ways at another time…” (Hebrews 1:1). This led me to meditate on how often God speaks to […]
18 Adar Israel, the Unfaithful Bride In Parashat Ki Tissa we read the difficult story of Israel’s sin against the Creator when they worshipped the golden calf. In Exodus 20 at the giving of the Commandments, God told us that He was the one who took them out of the land of Egypt; we were […]
11 Adar Who will speak for those who cannot speak for themselves? I am taking the message on today’s Parashah, Tetzaveh (You shall command) from the teaching that our rabbi of blessed memory brought to us in 5780. As I mentioned last Shabbat, he told us that these portions are not chronological. Why should […]
4 Adar How do we listen to God‘s Voice today? Last week’s parashah Mishpatim ended dramatically with Moshe ascending Mt. Sinai in a cloud of smoke where he would be handed the Ten Commandments. Because Parashat Terumah begins with the conjunction “and”, we might think that the narrative would continue in that vein but instead […]
