Can you teach someone to understand you? I thought about this for many years and after all this time – I think the answer is no – I don’t believe you can. It doesn’t mean someone can’t come to understand you. But it does mean you can’t teach them to. No matter what you say …
One of the most beautiful things about life is meeting people. I met a guy tonight and asked him what brought him to Israel. He said all his life he was an agnostic – he didn’t believe in anything at all. Back in February, for the first time in his life, he fell in love …
The greatest journey one can embark on is when you crack open a book; all the more so with beginning the Torah. The Torah contains within it a whirlwind of ideas and insights, hopes and aspirations. It is in essence the story of what it means to be human. In that sense, going through the …
The next 7 days is Sukkah, a time where Jews literally move out of their houses and make a hut-like structure their homes. The thrust of Sukkah is a time to work on being happy. And we do that by living in a flimsy, highly vulnerable, fragile structure, providing only the barest protection from the …
Yom Kippur, the day that Jews fast and repent, can best be defined by the statement of Socrates that an “unexamined life is not worth living.” On Yom Kippur, we embark on a journey of introspection, and by doing so, we confer meaning and purpose to our lives. The essence and greatness of a human …
I went to the airport and I had to spend some time in the Arrivals section. It was to my surprise a very beautiful experience. I witnessed countless people reunite after what seemed an extended separation. It’s worthwhile on a Sunday afternoon taking a beach chair just to gaze at the drama of love. The …
I think we spend much of our life battling ourselves. Our lower drives push and pull us in ways that harm us and the people around us. And it hurts – sometimes a lot. In that vein, we all have dreams. We dream that one day we will be the person who is unending in …
I grew up telling myself in my teenage years that I’m going to be so different from my father. Now I’m a father, and in so many ways I’m a spitting image of him. I became what I declared I would never be. I repeat what I think is his mistakes but I also can …
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 …
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 …