Shows
Personal Parsha ProseParshas Mishpatim: It’s Not My FaultTeaching teenagers can be an exciting and insight -inducing experience. It is so easy to listen to them, scratch one’s head, and wonder if you did such things at their age. But, alas, as they say, “Hindsight is 20/20” and “if I knew then what I know now.” Wow, if only I could have had my current wisdom as a young adult…and there is still so much of the world that perplexes me. But back to high school students- teenagers, as a sweeping generalization, still embrace the childhood gut-reaction of avoiding fault. A talking student will quickly advocate for herself ...
2026-02-1306 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Yisro- Sent AwayWhat can we learn from the Torah? Yeah, that seems like a bit of a trick question since the answer, from a hashgachic point of view, is everything. The Torah teaches us mishpatim and mo’adim and chukim. The Torah provides us with an understanding of our ancestry, our peoplehood, and our goals as a nation. But the Torah also teaches us about people and about relationships, and, in those relationships, there is almost always a lesson about our relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. At the beginning of this week’s parsha, Parshas Yisro, there is qui...
2026-02-0604 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Beshalach: Oh Food“Mom! What’s for dinner?” Oh, how so many women dread that question. Taking care of a family seems to require making this same decision over and over and over – although many households have solved this by having a static weekly menu so that the question becomes moot. If it’s Monday, it must be leftovers…(not to ignore “taco Tuesdays”). It seems that in the Midbar, that “beloved” cry was transformed from “Ma” to “Mo” – “Hey Moshe, what’s for dinner? I’m staaaarrrrvvvvinnnnnngg!” Ok, really, they said: “If only we had died by God’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by t...
2026-01-3008 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Bo – Wait, What Did He Just Say?Parshas Bo – Wait, What Did He Just Say?It would probably be a fair assessment to say that I am not alone in looking at the world today and shrugging in complete puzzlement. It feels like the last 5 or 6 years have brought a bizarre shift in both geopolitics, domestic policy, and economics. It often seems as if we are faced with the bizarre experience of politicians talking out of two sides of their mouths – saying one thing but meaning another. “That’s what politicians do,” some of you might be saying, and the proof is right here...
2026-01-2309 minPersonal Parsha ProseParsha Shemos: Gd KnowsIn the first parsha of the Torah, we learn how Hashem made man in His image…alas, ever since then it seems that man has been trying to do the reverse – make Gd in man’s image. Ok, it’s a bit of a pithy thing to say, but, in many ways, not so far from the truth. Even today when Western society has moved far away from statuesque idolatry or that Greek pantheon, most people tend to have an understanding of Hashem that reflects Gd as they want or expect Him to be. Sometimes that is the all-loving, all-forg...
2026-01-0906 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Vayechi: Touching on TemporalThe perception of the passage of time is one of the most puzzling elements of being alive. There are days that feel unending, and weeks that go by in the blink of an eye. One can look back at a year that just passed and wonder how it is over so quickly while, at the same time, feeling like events from the beginning of the year happened in a different era. This odd temporal distortion that we all do seems to be a significant facet of this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayechi.For those who are fans of...
2026-01-0206 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Vayigash: Going to and Living in GalusHindsight is 20/20 they say, and when you look at history from the present day you see all the twists and turns that brought about great triumphs and cataclysmic failures. And when you read a story from a historic time and you read about an individual or family’s first step into history – perhaps their purchase of a place on the Titanic – it is natural to want to call out a warning: “Wait! Don’t do it!” In some ways, that may be exactly the case of parshas Vayigash, this week’s parsha. After Yosef’s revelation that these are his bro...
2025-12-2606 minPersonal Parsha ProseChanukah Miketz 5786Chanukah/Parshas Miketz – A DT with No TitleOne of the incredible talents that we, the Jewish people have, is our ability to darshen out ever interesting understandings of our sacred texts and moments. Some of our most profound concepts come from the way we look at words anew, so what about Chanukah – and ok, let me say this clearly now: this is totally me. I have zero source for this… but let’s have a little fun anyway. Within the word Chanukah we have the name of Chana – an extremely powerful woman’s name and a name tha...
2025-12-1909 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Vayeshev: The Dream of JoiningThe word dream is, if you think about it, a rather interesting word. Like many words in our language, it has more than one meaning. On the one hand, it refers to that which happens in our minds while we sleep - which scientists will tell you is most often the way the brain processes the overload of information and experiences we each have. On the other hand, we use the word dream to refer to something we hope for ourselves in the future. It is more concrete than a wish, but not by much.
2025-12-1203 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Vayetzei: Stones of HistoryThe final aliyah of this week’s parsha, Parshas Vayetzei, seems like a soft and lovely path of closure to a long and tumultuous chapter of Yaakov’s life. The aliyah begins right after Yaakov has demonstrated to Lavan that his idols are not in their camp, and Lavan must let Yaakov and his family finally leave. Suddenly Lavan plays the part of a caring father, and Yaakov accepts it and agrees to a covenant. (Acceptance, of course, does not mean belief.)There are, to my mind, some fascinating elements to the way this seemingly agreeable covenant occu...
2025-11-2805 minPersonal Parsha ProseParshas Toldos: DynamicsOne of the greatest challenges of the age of social media is the ease with which one falls into the pit of comparison. Experts are constantly relaying what deep damage this is causing to adolescents in particular, but to many adults as well. The need to compare ourselves to others is natural; when acted on in a healthy fashion, it is a means for regulating oneself, for assuring oneself that they are maintaining what could be called the social contract of their community, but it can be quite devastating.In the Torah observant world, we often look...
2025-11-2105 min