Rabbi's Weekly Message
Perashat Toledot 5776
Friday, November 13, 2015It is said that different people see different things. Two people may be looking at a painting from the same vantage point, and yet each one may see something else. A message from a story has to do more with the reader than with the writer. As Henry David Thoreau said, “It is not what you look at that matters, its what you see.” When reading Perashat Toledot, most people will see the apparent deceptive practices of members of a family and will focus on their interaction. Eventually, there will be many opinions as to who was right and who was wrong, or attempts at finding justifications for each one’s actions. ...
Read more...Perashat Haey Sarah 5776
Friday, November 06, 2015It is said that a true and loyal assistant, deputy, or emissary is the one who fulfills exactly what his supervisor has requested from him or the mission that he has given him to fulfill. The Torah gives the title of Loyal Servant – Eved Ne’eman, to Moshe Rabbenu, since he fulfilled exactly all what the Almighty had requested of him. In Perashat Haye Sarah, the unnamed servant of Abraham Abinu, is yet another person, whom the Torah refers to as a “loyal servant”. He merited this title because he was indeed a true servant. He was in charge of all that belonged to Abraham. According to our sages this was none other than Eliezer, who accompanied Abraham throughout all the stages of his life; when he left his homeland, when he went to become circumcised, and when he went to bind Yishak - and now he is the one who is entrusted to find a bride for Yishak. ...
Read more...Perashat Vayera 5776
Friday, October 30, 2015We read in Perashat Vayera about the demise of Sedom and A’morah. These two cities have become throughout history the paradigm of inequity and injustice; a place where acts of loving-kindness were condemned and penalized. The end of Sedom and A’morah was punctuated with fire and brimstone, salt and sulfur. No one living in their vicinity and who knew about them cared much about Sedom and A’morah’s destruction. No one, that is, except Abraham. ...
Read more...Perashat Lekh Lekha 5776
Friday, October 23, 2015A historic Perasha like Perashat Lekh Lekha acquires a greater significance and meaning when it is read in the land that it describes. It is not the same reading the Perasha and being six thousand miles away from those places that Abraham walked and passed by. I have the privilege to be presently in Israel, in the land that G-d promised to Abraham to give to him and his descendants. Being here and experiencing the land, brings to life the words of the Perasha and indeed of the entire Bible - Tanakh! ...
Read more...Perashat Noah 5776
Friday, October 16, 2015In today's popular culture, reference is made to a fictitious comic-book character named Captain Obvious, whose main super-power is the ability to state self-evident facts. Often, someone may remark, "Thank you, Captain Obvious!" in order to sarcastically thank someone who just stated something evident. ...
Read more...Perashat Bereshit 5776
Friday, October 09, 2015Everything in life appears to have a beginning. Life itself, eating the first foods, the first steps, first class, first time visiting something and many other examples can come to mind. Yet, it is customary to have a mourner eat an egg during the first meal of Shib’a - sitting; to convey the message that similar to an egg, it has no begging or end but where it begins, it seems to end, and vice versa. The lesson is that life has no beginning and end; it is continuous like the shape of a whole egg. ...
Read more...Perashat Ha'azinu
Friday, September 25, 2015Among the various admonitions in Perashat Ha'azinu, we are enjoined to, "Remember bygone days; understand the years of each generation; ask your father and he will tell you, your grandfather and he will say it over to you" [Debarim 32:7]. What is the Torah trying to tell us here? Rabbi Y. Frand notes that, "on a very simple and basic level, this pasuk [verse] is teaching the importance of having an appreciation for history." He explains that if a person has an appreciation of the past, he will be capable of dealing with the present. ...
Read more...Perashsat Vayelekh
Friday, September 18, 2015Movement connotes progress. When we use the expression we are “on the move”, it usually means we are advancing, we are progressing and we are evolving. To walk also indicates movement and advancement. Perashat Vayelekh meaning, ‘and he walks’, narrates the last day of Moshe on Earth. At 120 years of age, Moshe walks throughout the entire camp and visits all the 12 Tribes; he gives them his last will and testament and a copy of the Torah to each tribe. He warns them of all the calamities that they will bring upon themselves if they don’t keep and commit to all the stipulations of the Torah - the Covenant. The Torah scroll that he gives them will stand as a witness to his words.
Read more...Perashat Nissabim
Friday, September 11, 2015Perashat Nissabim is always read before Rosh HaShanah. Moshe tells the Children of Israel that they are “standing firm today before G-d: the leaders, the elders, the officers, the children, the women, and the converts… to be part of the covenant that G-d is sealing with you today”. Of course, Moshe, in his last Sermon prior to handing the mantel of leadership to Joshua, reminds Bene Israel of their responsibilities with Hashem, described in the Covenant, as they would be entering the Land of Israel. ...
Read more...Perashat Ki Tabo
Friday, September 04, 2015We always hear and speak of ‘pop culture’ as though it represents the culture of the time. Wikipedia, which in itself is part of contemporary pop culture, defines it this way: “Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century.” If someone does not act or conform to the pop culture, he or she is considered an outsider, as though ‘they are not with the times’. They are looked upon as either primitive or plain ‘weird’. ...
Read more...Dec 21 2024
Kislev 20 5785