Category: Rabbinic Thoughts
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Rabbi’s greetings for the New Year
My dear friends,dear congregants,guests and visitors,Chayim and I send you heartfelt greetings for a blessed Shanah Tovah u’Metukah, a year of goodness and sweet experiences!How deeply embedded in our hearts are the many fine memories of the services we observed together, the simches we celebrated, the joys and sorrows we shared, the hospitality you provided us,…
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A final thought for 5779
For the last Shabbat in 5779, our Torah comes with one of the readings I love most in the entire year. In parashat Nitzavim we find the following directive: “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. You shall choose life.”But, what does it mean to choose life? It’s not…
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Indifference to our world is intolerable, unethical and it breaches our morality
Chaverim,In this week’s column I’d like to share with you an excerpt from my sermon I delivered last Friday. The sermon was about the powerful dictum of Parashat KiTeitzei, wich asks us not to remain indifferent — “Lo tuchal le’hitalem“.Lo tuchal le’hitalem – you shall not remain indifferent – it is an in-your-face moral and…
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Please help us – so that we can help others
You shall not deduct interest from loans to your countryman, whether in money or food or anything else that can be deducted as interest. ” (Deuteronomy 23:20)Chaverim,The Torah portion, Ki Teitzei, prescribes a great act of tzedakah. The idea that we ought to assist our brethren in reduced circumstances with timely, interest-free loans so that…
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Parashat Re’eh: Justice, Justice shall you pursue!
Chaverim,The pursuit of justice is one of the most frequently repeated concerns, and not only of the Torah, but of Jewish tradition. The teaching is to pursue justice in dealing with social, political, and international matters. In addition, Jewish tradition teaches, “speak up for those who are silent, for the rights of the unfortunate. Speak…
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Parashat Eikev: Cut away the foreskin of your hearts
Chaverim, See, the heavens and the heaven’s heavens belong to Adonai your God, the earth and everything on it. Yet Adonai fell in love with your ancestors and God chose you, their descendants, from all peoples, just as today. So, cut away the foreskin of your hearts and stiffen your necks no more. (Parashat Eikev,…
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Parashat Va’etchanan: Listen O Yisrael
Chaverim,Moses looks at the Promised Land by the banks of the river Jordan, and continues his final speech to the Israelites before he dies. He pleads with God to allow him to enter the Land of Israel, but he is refused. Once again Moses stresses to the Israelites the importance of keeping God’s commandments when…
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Devarim: A story is a powerful instrument for overcoming despair
Chaverim, In the first portion of the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses begins a series of farewell addresses to the Israelites. The task before Moses is an enormous one; he wants to remind the Israelites of what came before—interpreted now through his perspective—and he wants to give them a vision for the future. He is entirely…
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Parashat Masei: The grass only looks greener from far away
Chaverim, This week’s portion summarises the entire route followed by the Israelites from when they left Egypt until they were ready to enter Eretz Yisrael. The parsha begins, “Moshe wrote their going forth according to their journeys.” At the end of that same verse this idea is repeated, but the words are reversed: “And these were their…
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Parashat Matot: Thought and action should be unified.
If a man vows a vow to God, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. (Bamidbar 30:3) Chaverim, Speech is a defining human quality. The ability to articulate our thoughts into specific words…
