The words we find this week in chapter twenty of the Book of Exodus have undoubtedly influenced more individuals in the Western world than any other words in the entire Torah. They are called in Hebrew, “aseret hadibrot, “The ten utterances,” but most people know them simply as, “The Ten Commandments.”
You know we are very proud of how well we teach our children lessons from the Torah and Jewish sacred texts. Just the other day one of our teachers asked if anyone in the class knew the words to the 23rd Psalm. One girl raised her hand and quoted, “The Lord is my shepherd. That’s …
Fear is walking the land. Kids are afraid to go to school. Jews are afraid to go to synagogues and Jewish community centers. A White Supremacist drives down Chicago streets using any minority man, woman or child for target practice. Disgruntled employees open fire on colleagues, financial loss triggers a murderous rampage at a brokerage …
While walking in Central Park one day, Morris Cohen approaches another man and says to him, “Sam Kaplan, just look at you. You’ve had a face lift, muscle-building injections and all new teeth put into your mouth. Your nose used to be crooked, but now it’s straight. Your hair used to be snow white, but …
A mother goes into her son’s room one Saturday morning and sees that he is still in bed with the covers pulled over his head. “Allen, you’ve got to get up. It’s Saturday and you’re late for shul.” “Ahh Mom I don’t want to go to the synagogue, I don’t like it there.”
In 1980 the Federal government spent $4 billion on the drug war. This year we are spending over four times that much, and the saddest part is that most of that money goes not to help people stop using drugs or get help for their addictions, but simply to throw them in prison.
I think we were all taken by surprise – watching day after day in mounting disbelief. Watching those people standing patiently, waiting 7,8,9,10,11 hours in line , just to sign a condolence book. And not just one book, scores of books at every embassy around the world – thousands of people in Los Angeles alone, …
Tears and hope, fears and resolve, profound sadness and fierce determination – that is the mood in Israel this week I stood on the balcony of a relative’s apartment directly overlooking the Moment Café, where just a couple of weeks ago a homicide bomber blew himself up killing 11 Israelis, including a young couple celebrating …
Read More “Tears and Hope. The Germany and Israel Board of Rabbis Trip”
I can’t help it. I’d like to write about something else, but I can’t. I wish I could just share your basic, run of the mill inspirational Torah commentary this week, but my heart isn’t in it. I don’t really want to burden you with my own personal sorrow, but I have to talk about …
In a famous Hasidic saying, the Kotzker Rebbe was once asked: “Where does God dwell?” to which he replied, “Wherever you let God in.”
A new teacher asked the class what their parents did for a living. When it was Jimmy’s turn, he stood up and said, “My father is an exotic dancer in a strip club.” The teacher gasped and quickly changed the subject. Later she took Jimmy aside. “Is what you told the class true?” she asked …
A friend of ours tells the story of when his son, Kevin, was in the first grade. One day his teacher asked the class “What is the color of apples?” Most of the children answered red. A few said green. But Kevin raised is hand and said, “white.” The teacher tried to explain that apples …
Names are very important. They have a power all their own. There are names that inspired revolutions and overturned entire civilizations. There are names that have struck terror into the hearts of all who heard them. And of course there are many who claim that the sweetest sound that a human being ever hears is …
Years ago when I was still working as a rabbi in New York I got a phone call from the president of the congregation in California where I had grown up. He informed me that their current rabbi would be moving to another pulpit at the end of the year and he wondered if I …
“Parenting is the scariest job I have ever had,” I remember a father telling me years ago as he stood proudly watching his child participate in the “Moving on” ceremony at his early childhood center. “With little or no preparation at all, you are thrown head first into the role of mentor, guide, teacher, doctor …