Rabbi's Weekly Message
Perashat Behar 5779
Friday, May 24, 2019Our Perasha this week is all about resting, but it is not just the regular resting of Shabbat. The same way we have Shabbat every seven days, the land has Shabbat every seven years. It is kind of like dog years, where each human year is equal to seven years for Spot. So too, each DAY in the human cycle of Shabbat is equivalent to one YEAR in the land's cycle of Shabbat. Six days of work is six years of work for the land, and the one day of Shabbat equates to one year of Shemitta Shabbat...
Read more...Perashat Emor 5779
Friday, May 17, 2019Mashiach must be around the corner. The Talmud (Sotah 49) tells us that בעקבות משיחא חוצפא יסגא, that in the time of Mashiach, Chutzpa, or insolence, will rise up. In that time נערים פני זקנים ילבינו, the young will humiliate the old. Now I've seen this teaching before, but never has it resonated with me as much as this week. ...
Read more...Perashat Kedoshim 5779
Friday, May 10, 2019Omaha, Nebraska has a pothole problem. And a pothole blessing. Since the beginning of April, the city has repaired more than 13,000 potholes. Thank God it wasn't 13,001. I read this story and was amazed. An ambulance was flying down the streets of Gretna, outside of Omaha, en route to Lakeside Hospital. The patient's heart rate was worryingly high. That was until they hit pothole number 13,001. Suddenly his heart rate plummeted back down to normal. Apparently, patients who suffer from super ventricular tachycardia develop an accelerated heart rate. It can be caused by a defective electrical system in the heart, medication, or stimulants. And sometimes, if the patient gets jolted or shocked, it can reset the heart to its normal rate. The truth is actually stranger than fiction. It is not just the unlikelihood of the occurrence that struck me, it was the perception. ...
Read more...Perashat Ahare Mot 5779
Friday, May 03, 2019This week we marked Yom HaShoah. It is a heavy day with a heavy responsibility. We are asked to remember that in this world which has such potential for love and light, there is often darkness and hate. Unfortunately, this week it is not something we need to remember from the distant past. It is fresh and painful, having had yet another maniacal anti-Semite walk into a synagogue in Poway, California and attempt to gun down an entire congregation. ...
Read more...Perashat Messora 5779
Friday, April 12, 2019This week the whole world had their eyes on an epic mission. Israel was aiming to land on the moon with its Beresheet spacecraft. Named for the first book of the Torah, Beresheet means The Beginning. At a fraction of the cost of other missions, Israel's mission to the moon would have meant an incredible achievement for the little country that could. Landing on the moon would have meant we were only the fourth country to do so, and that we were much closer to being larger than the world we live in. Live streaming the event meant that everyone could watch together as the Jewish Nation was poised to, yet again, break the records and expectations of the world. We held our breath as it came closer, closer and closer to the moon. In those last moments Beresheet lost its connection to Mission Control. They frantically switched it off and back on, but by then their time was almost up...
Read more...Perashat Tazria 5779
Friday, April 05, 2019The two Parshiyot that lie ahead of us deal with the ins and outs of Sara'at. Commonly mistranslated as leprosy, Sara'at was actually a special spiritual malady that occurred when people of that time were speaking Lashon Hara excessively, or when they were exceedingly stingy. ...
Read more...Perashat Shemini 5779
Friday, March 29, 2019Nadav and Abihu are the two sons of Aharon who are punished in this week's perasha. We know that in Jewish thought a person's name is a window into understanding both their positive and negative powers. How is it that someone whose very name, Nadav, meaning giving and generosity, could have made the mistakes he did? His brother's name, Abihu, means "He is my father". Sounds beautiful. ...
Read more...Perashat Vayikra 5779
Friday, March 15, 2019The book of Vayikra deals with an esoteric realm of Judaism, the realm of korbanot, or sacrifices. The laws governing korbanot are complicated and nuanced. Interestingly enough, we are not introduced to the concept of korbanot, their lofty meaning or any of the things you should do first. We begin with the first word uttered in the entire sequence of laws, אדם. ...
Read more...Perashat Pekudei 5779
Friday, March 08, 2019Adar is the month of pure Joy! Meshenichnas Adar Marbim Besimcha! When Adar arrives we expand our happiness! Our Chachamim teach us that this month is a fortuitous time, a time of excellent mazal for the Jewish people. It strikes me as interesting that we read the story of Purim with its dangerous drama in this month! Granted there was a happy ending, but that doesn't discount the fact that until such time that the miracle happens we are caught in this terrible situation with death waiting right around the corner! That doesn't sound so joyful, does it?...
Read more...Perashat Vayakhel 5779
Friday, March 01, 2019There is no Paradise. Lest you think I am denying the existence of Gan Eden, rest assured, I am not. I am talking about Paradise, California. It was ravaged by the "Camp Fire" in November this year, a wildfire that was so devastating it killed 85 people and destroyed roughly 19,000 structures over 150,000 acres. Paradise is pretty much destroyed. ...
Read more...Dec 21 2024
Kislev 20 5785