The period of seven weeks, from Tisha B’Av to Rosh Hashanah, is the time allotted to us to rebuild and start anew. This year is different. Even the rock bottom of Tisha B’Av is still wobbling and not stable enough on which to build. Perhaps this is the meaning of the opening of Psalm 24: [...]
On May 31, the media announced the passing of Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm. Rabbi Lamm was the iconic president of Yeshiva University, beginning in 1976, and he went on to become chancellor in 2003, serving in that capacity for the next 10 years. In an incredible bit of timing, the very next day, on June [...]
All of us are guilty of romanticizing our past to various degrees. On the surface, it may seem silly to do so. Why should we attribute more hope to our past than our future? Surely, we set ourselves on a downward slope. Perhaps when our present is dark and our future is obscure, we believe a glimpse [...]
“Yesterday at 5 in the afternoon, we went with Mom to the grocery store, and on the way we saw that our kindergarten was closed. The swings standing between the tall trees, and the flowers seem so small and faded, because our kindergarten was closed...It isn’t very nice to see our kindergarten closed…” Every Israeli child [...]
In his book, Who Moved my Cheese, Spencer Johnson, MD, describes four different ways to deal with an unexpected change in life. He introduces four small fictional characters — two mice and two little people, who know where to get their cheese. One day, the cheese is moved. The four characters, like the four children in the [...]
Shalom members and friends, It’s the beginning of spring. In the midst of everything shutting down, the daffodils have just risen from their death to bloom for another life cycle. This cycle has meaning at this time of coronavirus, and many spiritual Jewish inferences can be drawn. Sometimes, God shakes up the foundations to wake [...]
As I was preparing for my annual journey to the Holy Land, it was apparent that Stanley was starting his journey to heaven. It was exactly eight years since we’d first spoken. Prior to my introductory Shabbat at Congregation Tifereth Israel, I called him to discuss the order of the service at this shul. He [...]
