Category: 5785

Soul!

The Torah tells us that if a couple decides to end their marriage, a document of divorce is drawn up and the husband hands it to his wife or he may appoint an agent to do so. This document is called a Get. There is an entire tractate of the Talmud that discusses the extensive …

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Game Plan!

We are currently in the special month of Elul. There are forty days from the beginning of Elul until Yom Kippur. We know that in Judaism, the number forty comes up often. What is the significance of these forty days? After G-d spoke to us at Mount Sinai when He delivered the Ten Commandments to …

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Potential!

In the Torah’s introduction to the laws of Kosher it states, “You are children of Hashem your G-d. Do not mutilate yourselves and do not make a bald patch in the middle of your head as a sign of mourning. You are a nation consecrated to Hashem your G-d. G-d has chosen you from all …

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Nutrients!

The Torah mentions seven species that the Land of Israel is noted for – wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. The Torah then lauds the Land of Israel for its abundance of food and that it is not lacking anything and that even its stones are iron and from its mountains copper is …

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Listen!

This week, we observed the fast of Tisha B’Av and mourned over the destruction of our Temples in Jerusalem. One of the more intriguing laws of the observances of Tisha B’Av is that we are restricted from studying Torah on Tisha B’Av. The reason for this is that when we study Torah, it brings us …

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Embrace!

The Book of Ezra captures a subtle but profound difference between the reaction of the older generation and younger generation to the rebuilt Second Temple in Jerusalem. The older people who recalled the absolute spiritual splendor of the First Temple, mourned when they saw the Second Temple, since it was spiritually lacking five of its …

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Dance!

My siblings and I, throughout our youth, spent the summers in a camp environment, because our father was the Rabbi of Camp Mogen Avraham in the Catskills. There is one memory that the tens of thousands of campers who attended CMA over the 45 years he was its Rabbi, have etched in their minds. It …

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Direct Line!

The Torah records the names and ages of the ten generations from Adam until Noach, and then tells us the names and ages of the ten generations from Noach until Avraham. The Torah then speaks in detail of the lives of Avraham, Yitzchok, Yaacov and the twelve tribes. It tells of their travails and that …

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Words!

This past Friday while I was sitting at my desk in my office at the JCC, I overheard a conversation between two teenagers who were sitting right outside my office. I have to tell you, almost every sentence was laced with a four-letter curse. It disturbed me, and as time went on, I realized that …

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Courage!

This week’s Parsha records the passing of Miriam and that she was buried in a place called Kadesh on the outskirts of the land of Israel. Miriam was 126 years old. Our Sages tell us that Miriam was buried immediately after she passed away. Commentators point out that Miriam was not suitably eulogized, and therefore, …

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