During this time of year, when the weather is cold and the days are short, I think of all the seeds lying in wait deep underground. I think of the beauty that comes in spring, even now while the leaves are dying when there seems to be no color or life at all. I think...
This week happens to be the week of my birthday, and so naturally I have always felt an affinity with this week’s portion of Noach – the story of Noah and the ark. There is endless wisdom contained within this portion, and each year that I study from it, I find new things. This year, I’d like...
It is human nature to get caught up in fearing the future or regretting the past, but never forget that your true power lies in the present. This is especially helpful to remember whenever we are approaching a big cosmic opening, such as Rosh Hashanah, the day on which our lives will be laid bare...
The holiest of actions are the ones that come from the heart. Big or small, every turn of hand has the power to uplift all of humanity when done with love. This week’s portion of Tazria-Metzora deals largely in part with the repercussions of our actions. The portion reads like a list of rules and regulations for...
In this week’s portion of Nitzavim, Moses speaks to the people of the covenant that they have chosen to enter with the Creator. He reveals to them that from this day forward, as they have been given a choice, they should choose life. From everything we learn in this week’s portion, there is an interesting...
It is human nature to almost always see the glass as half empty in our lives. Knowingly or unknowingly, we tend to focus what it is that we lack. We may say to ourselves, “I have this, and I have this, and I have that, but see over here, this is wrong, this is what...
It is said that we have two eyes for a reason: one eye to see the beauty and warmth in our friends, and the other to look inside ourselves to see what is wrong with us so we can transform it. It is so much easier to look for what is wrong in a person...
Sometimes a person who has helped us in the past does one small thing in the present that we perceive as “being against us,” and we forget all the good that came before. A concept that we often return to in our studies of Kabbalah is that if someone has given you something of value...
