For most of us, the time comes when we desire to find that special someone to share our lives. I have always believed that we are more able to draw our soulmates into our lives when we recognize that we cannot accomplish all of our spiritual work alone. When humility is cultivated, a desire for...
Many of us may remember from our childhoods the first time we picked up a stone, and tossed it into a lake. We may recall with our mind’s eye the ripples that formed in the water. Once pristine, the image in the lake wavered and broke. We might have learned then, the power we have...
We are all familiar with the way most fairytales end. And they lived happily ever after. At the end of countless tales and stories, we find everyone ending up happy and, most importantly, in love. Why is it that so many fairytales end this way? I think it’s because we all know in our hearts that love...
When the sun comes up over the horizon, and its rays begin to brighten all the land, what once was dark becomes full of light. The dark ominous forests transform into cedar rich towers of beauty. The cold and empty fields become golden warm landscapes. The towering and looming mountains are reborn into glorious benevolent...
When it comes to the matter of love, absence makes the heart grow fonder. When two people in love become separated, they desire strongly to be reunited. Their love builds and the longing to once again be together stirs into their souls. When I think of our relationship to the Creator, I see this same...
According to the Talmud, every blade of grass has its own angel watching over it, whispering, “Grow, grow.” So too is it with us. This beautiful teaching is ours this week. As the nights grow longer and darker, we are compelled more than any other time of the year, to go within for reflection, meditation,...
I’ve always loved Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables because in it, the story’s hero is redeemed and restored by one powerful, transformative act of kindness. The main character in the book is Jean Valjean, a convict who was unjustly imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to give to his starving sister. In the opening...
This week’s portion of Acharei Mot-Kedoshim is so potent, we read it twice a year – once on Yom Kippur, and once during Shabbat in the month of Iyar (Taurus). There are countless lessons we can learn from the story and innumerable benefits from listening to its reading. One of the most important among them is the spiritual teaching...
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...
To show love to another human being is to show them the face of the Divine. Love is what we are made of. It is the definitive quality of the Creator, and so too is it the essence of our souls. I have to be honest. Many years ago, when I first came to read Vayakhel-Pekudei, I...
