Category: Rabbi’s Dvrei Torah

Though it probably is not your favorite thing to do, I nevertheless ask you to take a moment or two to try to recall something about Yom Kippur: Several times throughout the services of Yom Kippur, we recite the vidui, the “confession”. You know the one, where we strike our hearts accompanied by a plaintive…

I am eager for the approach of sunset today and the start of our annual Shabbat-on-the-Beach services. What I most love about the Jewish experience of life I find to be present in abundance when folks gather together at a beach to greet Shabbat as a community: The creating of a spirit of Jewish culture…

You know you must sound like ‘a broken record’ to your kids when you yourself have grown tired of repeating the same mantra to them! My little one has been attending a summer day-camp all week, and all week long he only deigns to speak with me to complain about how bad everything is: what…

Perspective can make or break the world. What is dismissed as small or unimportant, could in fact be crucial.Where some people see problems, others see not problems but challenges.Bigger might not always be better, nor is more sophisticated always the most efficacious.When some see crisis, others see opportunity.When some fearfully warn, others encourage hope… In…

Shalom Chaverim, There was an event going on down the block from my house recently. On the sidewalk was a laughing toddler trying to chase after her granddad without falling down. She was laughing because her granddad was doing his best to clown her – spinning a ball on his finger, calling her name in…

The “highlight” of this week’s Torah portion, Nasso, is something you are all familiar with: The Birkat Kohanim, the priestly blessing of the people of Israel. You know the one [from Numbers 6:24-26]… May the Eternal bless you and protect you; May the Eternal’s Face give light unto you and show you favor; May the…

Shalom Chaverim, The Festival of Shavuot, which begins after Shabbat this Saturday night – we begin a new book of the Torah with parashat BaMidbar on Shabbat morning – is one of […]

Shalom Chaverim, This week’s Torah portion, Bechukotai, is known for its stark, black-and-white warning, called the “tochecha”: Either follow God’s laws and observe the commandments – maintaining the covenant – and […]

Shalom Chaverim, The ultimate answer to the “Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything” is… …nothing more or less than… 42. At least, it is “42” according to the […]

Together with all the Torah’s great wisdom, and its system of laws for everyday life, there are only a precious few verses in the Torah that address the ultimate reality and purpose of human life and our connection to the wider universe. These are concentrated nuggets of Truth which, if you could just focus on…