The Intrinsic Holiness of the Jewish Soul

The Intrinsic Holiness of the Jewish Soul

About six years ago I took my family on a trip to the outback of Australia. We drove hours away from civilization to visit a friend of mine, an artist, who lived alone on 700 acres of what they call Down Under, the bush. After driving without a road and eventually...

Parshas Vayechi 1999

If you haven’t noticed the world is going Y2K crazy. I’m not talking about the computer bug – which may be a legitimate concern. I’m talking about the religious issue. It started off with a few fanatics that decided the world is coming to an end, has infiltrated the...

Parshas Vayeishev 1999

Yaakov thought he was finished. He had enough. His struggles with his brother Esav, his fight for the Brachos, his wearisome effort of building a family, working for Lavan had taken a lifetime. Yaakov wanted to settle down, relax a bit, live in Eretz Yisroel and...
Parshas Toldos 1999

Parshas Toldos 1999

It’s not that Esav didn’t appreciate his birthright. Our sages teach us that Yaacov had been trying to buy the birthright from Esav since they were conceived but Esav didn’t want to part with it. Later, when Yaacov took Esav’s blessing away, Esav screamed such a...

From Preaching to Practicing

Someone told me a joke on Friday. There were two brothers living together. One was a medical doctor and the other was a Rabbi with a Ph.D. in Theology. Someone called the house and asked for Dr. Schwartz. “Which one?” asked the housekeeper, “the one...