Rabbi Chanina said, “I have learned much from my teachers, more from my colleagues, and the most from my students” (Ta’anit 7a). I always try to teach my students to love the Land of Israel with all their heart and soul. Here are the wonderful words of one of my treasured students who teaches this […]
Fighting Our Inner Amalek
Pharoah’s army is in a deadly pursuit of the Jewish people as they arrive at the sea. Moshe tells the people, “Don’t be afraid… stand by and watch … God will do battle for you and you will be still.” (Exodus 14: 13-14) God performs the miracle at the sea: the Egyptian army is drowned […]
Jewish Slaves?
Why Did the Children of Israel have to Suffer as Slaves in Egypt? This week we begin the book of Shmot (Exodus) It begins with the enslavement of the Jews in Egypt and their ultimate redemption through the 10 plagues and the Exodus from Egypt under Moshe’s leadership. Since God had promised Abraham that his […]
Doing our Job – It’s not work… It’s melacha!
There are 304,805 Hebrew letters in the Chumash – 5 Books of Moses. That’s about 90,000 words or the length of a medium-sized novel. It tells us the story of human civilization and Jewish history for its first 2,000 years in a very concise book. That’s a big undertaking. Yet an overwhelming part of the […]
According to the Effort is the Reward
We are not in control of results in this world. Only God is. We can only control how much effort we choose to put into a task to help achieve our goals. In the Mishna, Ben Heh Heh teaches us, “According to the Effort is the Reward.” That means, when we undertake a job consistent […]
From Judah to Judah Maccabee
It was Matityahu (Mattathias) from the Hasmonaean priestly family who initiated
Getting excited about an orange?
We saw some oranges from the supermarket today and I got excited! Really? A couple of oranges?!! What’s so exciting? Well it’s the month of Kislev (December) here in the Galilee and Hanukkah is approaching. So even though the weather is stunningly warm and sunny, and the Kalla lilies are starting to sprout in our […]
Pebbles from the Sea of Galilee
Why is there a custom to leave a small stone at the grave of a loved one when visiting a Jewish cemetery? Throughout the centuries the tradition of leaving a pebble or small stone on the monument or the grave has become part of the act of remembrance. In ancient times in the Land of Israel, […]
What does it really mean to recite a “blessing?”
Recently I was shopping in Jerusalem at a supermarket and the Land’s bounty on display was overwhelming. What a blessing! Among the huge variety of fruit we found some wonderful “Apple Pears” pictured above. This locally grown Asian fruit is crisp, fresh and sweet with a bit of a tang. It looks like an apple […]
Speaking Seventy Languages of Torah
Discover why every translation of Torah is a commentary of only one nuance… and how to get the “whole picture”