Listen to an audio version Every year we read Parashat Balak and I am utterly amazed. What a remarkably different approach to a reoccurring theme. Many have understood Torah as love letters between Hashem and Israel. In fact the focus…
Korach – You Say You Want a Revolution
Do you ever have a really bad day, when it seems like everyone and everything is working against you? Moses sure did. In fact it must have seemed to him like he had fourteen thousand and six hundred days like…
Shelach Lecha – Monsters, Giants and Other Formidable Obstacles
In the spring of 2002 I went to an art exhibit that was featuring a grouping of pictures painted by a good friend who was beginning the process of leaving the safety of a career as a commercial artist and…
Nasso – Bless is More
Listen to an audio version… This week’s parasha contains one of only two prescribed blessings in all of Torah, the Birkat Kohanim. This blessing is so familiar to us, it is part of the morning shacharit, and is traditionally chanted…
Shavuos all Over Again
Yankee Hall of Famer Yogi Berra was renown for his unique and often comical manner of turning a phrase. One phrase that has become part of the American lexical tradition is “It’s like déjà vu all over again.” Déjà vu…
Bechukotai – Peace Within and Without
Listen to an audio version “…you will dwell securely in your land. I will provide peace in the land…” (Vayikra 26:5-6) After the Torah guarantees that we will dwell in our land safely if we observe the mitzvot, it…