Articles:
Which Side is G-d On?
In Koheles (Ecclesiastes), the book of Solomon's wisdom, there appears the statement: "ve-H' yevakesh es-nirdaf", (Eccl. 3:15), which can be translated as: "And G-d seeks out him who is pursued", or perhaps: "And G-d favors the underdog". The Midrash quotes R. Yossi...
Kadish For the Cardinal
This morning I read with interest about the funeral arrangements for Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. The longtime archbishop of Paris, a confidant of late Pope John Paul II, asked that the Kadish be recited at his funeral in front of Notre Dame this morning. It is said...
Why Noah Feldman Was Left Out Of His Class Picture
This past week six different friends of mine forwarded to me an article from the New York Times Magazine Section written by Noah Feldman. Most of them introduced the article by explaining to me how brilliant Noah is. His academic journey took him from Maimonides...
Spirituality – Finding Our Purpose
My experience has been that most people investigate Judaism for one reason and one reason only: they are in search of spirituality. Most thinking people reach a point where they feel there must be another dimension in life. From the moment a person begins to enjoy a...
Korach 2005
Historically it has been the division between Jews that has caused us to lose our land. Jerusalem has turned orange. It?s almost impossible to walk or drive on the streets of Yerushalayim without seeing dozens of orange ribbons tied to car mirrors, antennas,...
Korach 2003
Just because we are acting with perseverance, courage and self-sacrifice it doesn?t mean that we are acting with nobility. Last week, while on vacation, I watched a documentary that made a huge impression on me. ?Walking In to Thin Air? is a true story about an...
Shlach 2005
It is very simple. G-d gave us a gift and we snubbed it. What you have been searching for all your life may be right in front of you, but you won?t see it unless G-d opens your eyes. You can be standing in front of your soul mate for 100 years and unless G-d opens...
Shlach 2003
You can stand next to your soul mate for 100 years and not even know it. You can stand next to the thing you are looking for all your life, but you won?t see it unless G-d opens your eyes. You can stand next to your soul mate for 100 years, and unless G-d opens your...
Its Not So Simple!
Beside for having a problem on your hand - you may have a godol on your hand. One of the greatest tragedies of our times is when every once in a while a young man or women makes a decision to walk away from generations of tradition, from years of education, from the...
Behaaloscha 2003
G-d does not always do things to the way we feel they should be done. The Jewish people were ready to move. They were on their way to Eretz Yisroel. But Miriam couldn't move. Miriam became ill with Tzoraas and had to be in quarantine for seven days. Three million...
Counting the Jews – and Every Jew Counts!
Things that we love we count. Why Hashem counts us – and how we have our own counting to do.
The Festival Cycle
Holidays are those times in the year which draw our attention to a special message underlying them. They ask us to take to heart certain fundamental truths that they aim to impress upon us. Rising above the other days of the year, they call us out of our humdrum existence, to dedicate to them our minds and lives.
Our daily life is devoted to our ordinary pursuits and activities by means of which we strive to build our future. The holidays interrupt our labors, to revive those fundamental ideas upon which our life is based.
We Have Arrived in the Land
“Ki Savo – when you arrive in the Land”. We have arrived! God gave us a gift called Israel. He gave it to us once and because of our behavior He took it back. He gave it to us a second time and because of our mishigass He took it away. Now, He’s giving it to us for a third time! Once again – we have arrived!
Ki Savo 2004
As the argument continued Moshe smiled. “Today”, he said, “I see you really are a people!” (Rashi and Mosif Rashi)
Why did Moshe smile? Because today they owned the Torah they felt it was theirs. Each group felt that they deserved the Torah and couldn’t live without it. They loved the Torah and argued for it.
Re’eh 2003
As we welcome in the month of Elul and we begin our preparations for a New Year, we must keep in mind our G-d given challenge. ‘Leshichno Tidrishu’, always keep searching for Jerusalem, ‘Uvoso Shama!’ and you will get there. We are leaving tomorrow!
Eikev 2006
Reflections on the 2006 Israel – Lebanon War through the lens of the Parsha parshas Ekev.
Eikev 2005
We speak of sensitivity as if it is some sort of disease. We often tell our spouses, our children or our employees to stop being so sensitive. We work on ourselves and exercise our emotions so that we should become less sensitive. We speak of sensitivity as if it is...
Eikev 2003
Sensitive people are able to feel what others cannot.
Space has its markers.
When we visit places that we had visited as a child the energy of that place is released and brings back all the memories that seemed to be stored up there waiting for you to return and enjoy them. Time also has its markers. Birthdays, anniversaries, yahrtzeits , all of these markers take us back on a journey as we remember a particular day in our lives, a certain day in history. This Shabbos is a special marker for me personally. Parshas Eikev was the Shabbos of my Aufruf. Many years later the week of Eikev was my first Shabbos in Australia. As time went on Parshas Eikev was also the very first time I spoke from the pulpit of Congregation Bais Torah which led to my succeeding Rabbi Berel Wein and continuing his legacy.
This week, with G-ds help, our family will be moving to Yerushalayim!