Haye Sarah 5776: At Home and on the Road “Forever is composed of nows.” ― Emily Dickinson On a mission to acquire a burial plot for his wife Sarah, Abraham strikes a deal with Ephron the Hitite and makes his first purchase of land in Canaan, later to become Erets…

Vayera 5776 – FOMO “Don’t be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.” — Lily Tomlin Human freedom is one of humanity’s great blessings but a blessing that we accept with great hesitation. One reason that we are sometimes hesitant when making…

Lekh Lekha 5776: The Shield “People should not be protected from the world, It cripples them.” ― Josephine Humphreys There is an odd blessing that we say at every circumcision. It is odd because one would think that at such a seminal and fundamental moment in the Jewish lifecycle,…

Lekh Lekha: The Secret of Circumcision – 5776 – By Rabbbi Shalom Morris The practice of newborn male circumcision is synonymous with Jews and Judaism. The Torah records that the commandment of this procedure was first directed at Abraham and his family. Since that time the descendants of Abraham…

Noah 5776: Weathering the Storm “The effort to combat psychotic prejudice with reasonable counter-arguments is an act not only of folly, but of capitulation.” —David Mamet…

Bereshit 5776: Divine Earth “Earth, my dearest, oh believe me, you no longer need your springtimes to win me over…Unspeakably, I have belonged to you, from the flush.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke My father told me that when NASA had planned to land on the moon, his rabbi had…

“Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson As we close the book of Bereshit this week, we come to the end of the life of Yaakob our forefather. From his deathbed, he blesses his…

 “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.” — John F. Kennedy The awkwardness of engaging with those whom we do not share a like-mind and vision is among the greatest challenges of humanity. Most of us simply avoid…

Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in…

“And Yaakob was left alone — and a man wrestled with him until the coming up of dawn…when he saw that he could not prevail against him…he said to him ‘What is your name? And he said Yaakob. Then he said: Not as Yaakob shall your name be uttered,…