“Ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord thy God, am holy” Powerful words, and the first words of this week’s Torah reading (parashah.) It is not a command to be as holy as God is, but to be holy because God is our God and He is holy. To be
I know that sounds like a, “Duh! Really?” statement, but how many people do you know that seem to live in their past, always regretting things that can’t be changed? I often review my life, and there are many, many, MANY things I would like to have done differently, and
As lousy a situation as it is, the absence of tsouris (troubles) in our lives results in the absence of joy. Joy is what we feel when we are relieved of stress, there are no problems, no “issues” to overcome…complete relaxation, physical, mental and spiritual. But if we didn’t know
After the death, as in, after the death of Aaron’s two sons, who came before the Lord with unknown fire, drunk and ambitious. They learned the hard way you shouldn’t “Drink and Daven!” Chapter 16 deals with the preparation and ceremonies for Yom Kippur, specifically regarding the preparations and duties
You’ve all heard people say that too much information is dangerous, right? Or maybe when talking about someone else, they’ll be referred to as having just enough knowledge to be dangerous? I know the bible pretty well- I am familiar with most of what is in there, and can remember
Is there a difference? If God commands us to do something, or not do something, that is pretty clear. And if we disobey, we are in sin and must atone. But what if God only calls us to do something? Technically, I guess, we have an option to refuse without
Shabbat Shalom. I usually have a Parashah message on Friday but I glanced at an article in the morning paper and feel so strongly about what it said to my spirit that I am going to rant and rave today. The article was about a group of women who wanted
Will I or won’t I …what? What is this thing I am supposed to do or not supposed to do? That thing is: make a choice. We are all given free will so that we can make our own choices, yet we abrogate that right, over and over. How? By allowing others
We talk about having faith in God, but what does that really mean? Does it mean believing God exists? Yes. Does it mean accepting that He has created everything and is who and what we hear about him? Yes, it does. Does it mean accepting that His promises of salvation are true
In the letter Yakov (James) wrote to the Jewish Believers (not Christians, mind you, but Jewish Believers) in Jerusalem, he was talking about asking for things from God, and how we must be faithful when we ask. In James 1:5-7 he says: But if any of you lacks wisdom, let