A Jewish woman went to India on what seemed to be a spiritual quest. She traveled a great distance to get to this ashram to see if she could get a meeting with the head guru. The woman was told by the attendant that the guru was a very busy man who spent most of his day in meditation, and that she would have to wait three days to see him
By Chaim
Much ink has been spilled, many pens have been broken and significant vitriol has been vented over the debate regarding proposed changes to the State of Israel’s conversion protocol. Sadly, the issue has pitted against each other rabbanim and leaders associated not
The circumstances were dire. Weeks after pledging allegiance to Hashem we debased ourselves, frolicking around a calf fashioned from gold. The crashing sounds at Sinai announced a bold, new message: God had no face and wasn’t physical or visual. Sadly, we corrupted this powerful idea by bowing to a human-sculpted creature.
One of Tanach’s most astonishing anthropomorphisms describes the way that Moshe communicates with God: “And God spoke to Moshe face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Shemot 33:11). This singular relationship is so seminal to Moshe’s life that it appears again at the end of the Torah in its encapsulation of Moshe’s
In this week’s parsha of Ki Tisa we read that shortly after witnessing the miracles of liberation from Egypt and seeing the Torah being given on Mount Sinai, the Jewish people erected a golden calf idol and were having a party worshiping it. Indeed, when Moshe comes down from receiving the Torah after 40 days, Yehoshua asks him what the
Sam Zeitlin loved cycling as a kid and dreamed of being in the Olympics. He joined the American National Cycling Team, and he aced the competitions. Although Sam was not a religious Jew, he was concerned he would not be chosen to move ahead just because he was Jewish. He decided to go to Israel and join the cycling team there, and indeed,
Rebellion! “Go down from the mountain and witness your nation merrily dance before a golden calf!” said God (Shemot. 32:19). Chaos and mayhem engulfed the camp as Moshe descended into a spiritual abyss! The irascible shock culminated in an act of unbridled anger as Moshe took
The Gemara in Shabbat 119b teaches us that there is a power we have when we say Amen. When the Jewish people say Amen, which is an acronym for ק-ל מלך נאמן, God, trustworthy/reliable king, and say it with the right intention, they will be forgiven by Hashem. In this week’s parsha we see how saying Amen causes annulment for a
At Fountainview Senior Living this past Motzei Shabbat, Agra D’pirka finished Masechet Brachos b’iyun after five years of learning with Rabbi Greenfield as the maggid shiur. A sefer was published for the event and Rabbi Young, Rabbi Maqrgareten and Rabbi Mattis Stern attended, along with other maggidei shiu.
In honor of the second yahrtzeit of my beloved father-in-law, Julian Smith, Yehudah ben Yisrael, whose commitment to davening continues to inspire us today.
Recently, a leader of a prominent Jewish think tank tweeted his amazement that we had wasted the “huge window of opportunity” granted by the
(Courtesy of Shas-a-Thon) Early last Sunday morning, 585 people from across the tristate area and beyond gathered at Kalahari Convention Center in Pocono