I have faced various difficulties in my life. Some were just plain difficult. Some were extremely difficult. Some excruciatingly difficult. But nothing has been more painful than when my wife left to LA. For her brother’s wedding. Leaving me with my two kids. Alone. Raising kids by myself as the primary caregiver is the craziest …
It can be a bizarre thing to commemorate Tisha B’av because Jews were exiled from Israel, at a time when Jews are freely living in Israel. It begs the question, why do we need Tisha B’av? The question demonstrates the true tragedy of the exile was not geographic but spiritual. On Tisha B’av, above and …
We just entered the month of Av, the month in the Hebrew calendar where historically Jews have faced tragedy. It’s a heavy time, and anyone who keeps the laws that were intended for us to feel the pain of our history, you really feel it. Generally, in America, there is an obsession with happiness. And …
My 2-year-old daughter parrots everything her older brother does. And it’s very interesting to me. Whatever her brother is in the mood to play, she plays. So sometimes I see her in a firefighter’s outfit in full gear, with her mother’s high heels and a pink purse around her neck, putting out an imaginary fire …
To My Dear Friend, It’s been over a month now that you’re gone and I still can’t believe it. I have to tell you, I admire you. All those years you kept that pain inside of you; you decided to follow your truth and it came at a great cost to you. You lived in …
Yesterday I was with my family by the port in Herzliya. The beach was packed and there were lots of people. Out of nowhere probably close to 100 American Soldiers started walking in uniform down the port. I’m not sure how it happened, but people started getting up and clapping and chanting America, America . …
The world has advanced in knowledge and understanding in virtually all branches of education. The access and level of education the common man has today is unprecedented. But the world has patently regressed in all matters of the intellect. The question is why? I think the answer is because there is a difference between knowledge …
Judaism in general and Orthodox Judaism, in particular, has been terrible at expressing its inner depth. We sat on worlds of treasures through the Torah we were given but we didn’t know how to convey it, sell it. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was one of the first Rabbi’s of our generation to rise up and give …
Possibly the most important trait. It is a trait that when you see it you cry. You look for it in the other person you want to marry. You want to become it. That you don’t need eyes to see it nor ears to hear it but just a heart to feel it. Without receiving …
It is possible that if there is one day that is the most misunderstood in Judaism, it is Yom Kippur. We fast and abstain from the physical not as a philosophy, but as an exercise to help the soul fly. Judaism engages the physical most of the year, but one day we abjure from the …