One of the most popular programs on television during the 1970s was “Happy Days,” a nostalgic comedy about the late 1950s and early 1960s. During a turbulent era (when have we not lived through a turbulent era?), “Happy Days” provided a romanticized...

On the heels of the molten beast, we slipped. Make us a god, we said last week, because that man who led us out of Egypt, we don’t know what became of him (Exodus 32:1). Did we want a god, or did we want a leader? Rashi taught that we were confused;...

My first experience with this portion was 30 years ago when our eldest son became a bar mitzvah. Ki Tisa is found near the end of the  Book of Exodus. Half of Exodus is dedicated to the Mishkan, the Tent of Meeting or portable sanctuary of the wilderness.In...

Parashat Tetzavah forms the middle of a lengthy multiweek set of instructions given to the Israelites for the construction of God’s dwelling place. God speaks to Moses, and outlines in precise and sometimes difficult-to-follow language every possible...

After weeks of recounting stories of the miracles that God performs on behalf of the Israelites — from a small bush aflame but never consumed to plagues that continuously haunt the Egyptian people, the awe-filled phenomenon of the Exodus and the astonishing...

At my most recent checkup, my physician shared with me some of his family history. It was a particularly difficult time for his family, as only recently had the hospital that his father and two Jewish physicians founded closed its doors forever. As he...

Reb Moshe Leib loved his fellow Jews so much that he searched daily for lost souls. In one of his excursions, he found himself in a tavern and overheard the following exchange between two Russian peasants:  Declared the first: “I love you, my...

Part of my morning ritual is sitting down to a reheated bowl of overnight steel cut oatmeal, adorned with ancient grains and seasoned with toasted flax seeds. To the right of my bowl sits a mug of iced coffee and to my left is my trusty tablet reader...

Throughout my life, I’ve rarely been afraid of the dark. In fact, I often have been drawn to the darkness, particularly to find the beauty that can be seen only when it becomes dark. When we escape the “light pollution” of human origin, we can discover...

Parashat Vaera, which will be read this coming Shabbat in Jewish communities the world-over, opens with God preparing Moshe Rabbenu, Moses our great teacher, to encounter/confront the Pharaoh of Egypt, and ends with the graphic description of the Makkot,...

This week we begin the book of Shemot, Exodus. Our parashah, Shemot, meaning “names,” seems to be a misnomer. In the first few verses, we get a list of the names of Jacob’s sons who entered Egypt, and then “a new Pharaoh arose over Egypt who did...

There are certain things that some of us don’t discuss in polite conversation. Religion. Politics. Money. Maybe sickness. We certainly do not talk about death. However, at some point in our lives we become aware of our  mortality. To be human means...