A colleague, Rabbi Jonathan Gross, served as a rabbi in Omaha, Nebraska, for close to a decade. Nebraskans, as you may know, take their football and their home team—the Huskers—very seriously. And so, it wasn’t unusual that someone from the local community posted the following question on the rabbi’s blog: “Is it permissible to

Normally, we use the word “illusion” in a pejorative sense, a term of derision or something which is contrary to fact, to reality or to common sense. And yet, consider that illusions of both time and space enable an artist to paint a canvas, a prospective homeowner to purchase an empty lot of real estate, the mathematician to consider

At Yizkor, a son contemplates the loss of his mother this pandemic year and his father 40 years ago.

I’ve always been mystified by those mitzvot in the Torah that seem to mandate a certain kind of feeling. Among them: Lo Tachmod, “You shall not covet” … V’samachta b’chagecha, “you shall

We finally finished reading the last parsha in the Torah. We celebrated Simchat Torah only a few days ago. One might say, “Whew! I am finally finished.” However, this Shabbos we roll the Torah back to the beginning and start all over again at Bereishit. It occurs that this act and many similar Torah stories portends an important lesson

Beitzah 12a and 15b

Although cooking food on Yom Tov for a Yom Tov meal is permitted, cooking or preparing a meal on one day of Yom Tov for the following day is prohibited. This prohibition applies equally whether tomorrow is a weekday, a Yom Tov or a Shabbat. This is because one is not allowed to

Beitzah 12a

Of the 39 melachot that are prohibited on Shabbat, some, which relate to the preparation of food and to other matters of physical and spiritual comfort, are permitted on Yom Tov. “The only work you may perform [on Yom Tov] is that which is required for your nourishment (ochel nefesh),”

Moshe Rabbeinu was a man beyond comparison. He took care of Bnei Yisrael and many times put their needs before his. Using the 13 attributes of mercy and telling Hashem to have his name erased from the Torah, he convinced Hashem not to get rid of the Jews. Despite this, in the last portion of Parshat Haazinu, Moshe is told again that he

Videocast featuring leading gedolim garners unprecedented pre-Rosh Hashanah inspiration.

“The Chofetz Chaim changed the briyah—he transformed the entire world! The entire agenda of klal Yisrael changed because of him and today, on his yahrtzeit, it is the time for

It is natural to feel that the more we have, the happier we will be. But the truth is that it doesn’t always work that way. In fact, many times, getting more than we really need can create new and difficult challenges. This week’s Torah portion (32:15) warns the Jewish people to be careful when things get better for them and not to let

In the process of teshuva there are many things that can get in the way. In addition to the Rambam’s list of 24 “mi’akvim es ha’teshuva,” spiritual blocks to teshuva, many practical and psychological blocks can also derail a sincere person’s teshuva efforts. One example that seems especially prominent today is the fear of

He was dating a non-Jewish woman seriously, and when Sarah would ask him if he planned on raising his children as Jews, his answer was no; Judaism wasn’t important to him. Sarah had one question for me: How do I convince my son to be Jewish?

Although I didn’t know Sarah, she had

Life is always changing. Each person we meet, each place we go and each thing we do is an opportunity to experience, learn from and just plain enjoy.

But most situations don’t last forever. We may find ourselves experiencing some transitions in life. Some changes will be easier, some may be more