Simchat Torah will be celebrated by Jews around the world this upcoming week. On that day, we complete and begin anew the annual Torah reading cycle. This joyous milestone is celebrated primarily by singing and dancing while the Torah is kept aloft. Much has been written about the power and nature of singing. Much less …
Depression is really the combination of stagnation and despair. You’re in a place of pain and it seems your situation is inescapable. And because the demon of depression is more of an existential angst as opposed to a purely mental stress, I think its prescription is slightly different than anxiety. Anxiety is a feeling of …
Early on in my life, I was compelled to develop the ability to take criticism semi-graciously. Why? Because growing up I was always surrounded by a lot of women, and there is something about the nature of a woman which creates this insatiable desire to fix a man. It’s actually remarkable, men don’t really care …
Generally, we look at the Torah as a commentary to life. But what is just as true, but not as widely recognized, that our life serves as commentary to the Torah. We can read the Torah many times over, understand the words but be at loss at its meaning. The Torah can be saying only …
I went today to Rav Chaim’s funeral. I was amongst over 750,000 people there. My left leg has been hurting me but I was determined to go. I walked miles to get to the funeral. At a certain point, I began limping, and after I just couldn’t walk anymore, I sat down on some steps …
On the Passing of Rav Chaim & The Evolutionary Process Read More »
Passover is the formation and creation of the Jewish people. In effect, we celebrate our birth as a nation. I had a very interesting encounter recently that gave a whole new meaning to my Passover. I was dead asleep on an intercontinental flight and my stewardess woke me up. Why? She wanted to inform me …
I have a love for the drama of ideas; and nothing moves me, transforms me, and defines me like the study of wisdom. Rav Noach said that what pleasure is to the body is what wisdom is to the soul. I read anything and everything, especially, literature that reflects truth, conveys depth, and has the …
Relationships are beautiful connections we establish, internalize, and ultimately become; they are, par excellence, the most expansive and life-enhancing endeavor a human being can ever undertake. I am not trying to be dramatic or romantic, but it is what it is. The human connection is the most majestical, magical, sublime experience. It bonds, creates, forms, …
At the end of the prayers in the synagogue today, we all said a prayer for the welfare of the people in Ukraine. The mood of many people here in Israel is of somberness. I personally work with a guy in Ukraine, and he told me all the gun stores have been completely emptied because …
This past week we read the Torah portion of the giving of the 10 commandments. When you look at some of the commandments, they seem simplistic and elementary. Some of the most primitive civilizations enacted these laws (e.g. do not murder). So the question is, what moral innovation do the 10 commandments teach? Each commandment …