Parshas Shoftim – His Royal Lowness
“Let them eat cake!” Popularly attributed to Marie Antoinette, this quote has entered our lexicon as an expression of the callousness and obliviousness of the royalty and upper class to …
“Let them eat cake!” Popularly attributed to Marie Antoinette, this quote has entered our lexicon as an expression of the callousness and obliviousness of the royalty and upper class to …
A corpse. A corpse on Union Street, New Orleans. It is seventeen years later, and I still cannot get the vision out of my mind. In the tragic aftermath of …
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I do what I know is right!” Ever come across someone with this attitude? Have any friends or relatives like that? Strong minded. …
Parshas Re’eh – Doing What’s Good and What’s Right Read More »
As someone with a lousy (read: nonexistent) sense of direction, a GPS is one of the best gifts I have ever received. However, even the GPS was no match for …
Written a number of years ago, yet eternally relevant. I write these words from somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, as I return home to New Jersey from a week-long trip …
“Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it” (Koheles 11:1). In this week’s Torah portion, we find the Jewish people, in their fortieth year …
From the sea they didn’t want to leave, from the mountain they couldn’t get away fast enough. The Torah tells us that after the miraculous splitting of the sea, all …
Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me.” Rarely is a slogan so well known, yet so profoundly untrue. As recent tragic cases of bullying …
What is the most difficult mitzvah in the Torah? Fasting on Yom Kippur? No Oreos for eight days on Passover? No texting for 25 hours on Shabbos? Surprisingly, some commentaries say that …
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz recently penned an open “letter to Hashem (G-d)”, asking why we pray for a third Temple that will include animal sacrifice. I will be bold enough to assume …