Freedom from physical slavery is the first exodus. Then comes freedom from psychological enslavement. Passover shows us how to break lose from our mental chains.
An Eye for and Eye? Really?
Misunderstanding and its Consequences This week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1-124:18) has one of the most often quoted yet misunderstood verses in the Torah. And this misunderstanding has had serious consequences about how non-Jews view the “Old Testament” and Orthodox Judaism.
How to be happy when the Iranians want to destroy us!
When the month of Adar arrives, joy increases! How do we do that in the face of annihilation? How can we be happy when our Iranian enemies are pushing ahead with their plan to destroy the State of Israel? This isn’t the first time a madman in Iran (Persia) has threatened the Jewish people with […]
Fighting for Democracy in Israel?
You may be confused by the headlines coming from Israel. Large protests are taking place against the Netanyahu Government’s proposed reforms to reduce the power of the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down laws passed by the Knesset. I’d have to give a one-hour zoom session to explain in detail what is really happening, but […]
What’s in a Name anyway?
This week’s Torah portion, Vaera (Exodus 6:2-9:35) begins in a very confusing way… וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹקים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְקוָק׃ And God (ELO-HIM) spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am YHVH“. Did you catch that? God, whom the Torah calls ELO-HIM, is speaking to Moses, and telling Moses that He, ELO-HIM is YHVH […]
Moses was a “Jew”!
In this week’s Torah Portion (Exodus), there a quite a few references to “Hebrews.” Moses is called a Hebrew child by Pharoah’s daughter (Ex. 2:6) God of the Hebrews (Ex. 5:3) etc. It’s obvious that the text is referring to the enslaved Tribes of Israel when it uses the term Hebrew. Aramaic Translation What’s fascinating […]
New Israeli Government – Same old Anti-Israel Hyperbole from the world
This week Prime Minister Netanyahu’s new government was finally installed. As we’ve mentioned, it is a Right-Wing/Religious coalition which is opposed to many policies of the succession of progressive, leftist governments who have slowly made “democratic values” more important than “Jewish values” in the Jewish State. Similar in a way to the MAGA – America […]
Joseph Revealing Himself to His Brothers
This week’s Torah portion, VaYigash (Gen. 44:18-47-27) is one of the most dramatic in the entire Torah. After having been rejected and sold into slavery in Egypt by his own brothers, Joseph rose to be the viceroy. When famine struck Canaan and Egypt the brothers were forced to descend to Egypt to buy some food. […]
Chanukah was a military victory… where’s the victory parade?
Anyone I have every spoken to who was in Israel at the time of the 1967 Six Day War told me that when it ended, the whole country was buzzing with the huge Miracle that had occurred. Even secular newspapers didn’t shy away from using the “M” word (miracle). The American Military could not believe […]
Chanukah – Bringing Light to the World
The Festival of Chanukah falls in the Hebrew month of Kislev. Shorter days and longer nights symbolize spiritual darkness and it’s our job to bring spiritual light back into the world during this season. Two thousand two hundred years ago the Syrian Greeks controlled the Land of Israel and feared a national uprising by the […]