Lech L’cha is one of my favorite parashiot in the Torah. In it, Gd tells Abraham to seek a new life in a new land, where his people will ultimately grow in number. Leave your comfort zone, Avram! Leave all that is familiar. Be bold. Seek something better. And I, Gd, will be with you. […]
Rejection is something we all deal with at some time in our lives. An early example of rejection can be found in today’s parasha in the story of Cain and Abel. The two brothers gave their offerings to God. Cain, a farmer, brought produce he had grown and Abel, a shepherd, brought an offering from […]
Life is endowed with blessings and curses; good and evil all mixed together. It is up to each of us to choose to do good or to do evil. So begins today’s parasha.
This seems like a logical and timely message following on the heels of the High Holidays during which we prayed for forgiveness for […]
I want to thank all of you for the honor of presenting the d’var Torah on this special day.
As many of you know, Nancy and I recently went on a long trip to the Arctic. In fact, the company that we went with, National Geographic, only makes one such voyage each year, and the captain […]
Many years ago, some interesting graffiti on a wall caught my attention:
“G-d is dead.” – John
Beneath that was scrawled:
“John is dead.” – G-d.
It’s getting harder and harder nowadays to find people who will openly admit to believing in G-d. I suspect, however, that if I polled the room to determine who believes in G-d, […]
This parsha is like the Israelites getting married to G-d, with Moses creating and reading the pre-nuptial agreement aloud for everyone. The honeymoon will be their entry into the Promised Land. It’s the roadmap for the Israelites to achieve and live with joy, gratitude, and abundance by maintaining their fidelity to a covenant with G-d […]
In the early 1950s, the new State of Israel faced a difficult choice. Should it open diplomatic relations with Germany? If not, would Israel avoid international organizations that accepted Germany’s membership? What if Israel hosted international meetings? Would they exclude Germany? Writer Ernest Renan said, “Whoever wishes to make history is obligated to forget history. […]
In Parashat Shoftim, there is a section about the appointment and behavior of a king. It tells the Israelites that the king shall not be a foreigner, but one of their own people. This king must not have many horses, nor many wives, nor amass silver and gold for himself in excess, so that “his […]
In this Torah portion, Moses continues his speech to the Israelites. He tells them they will have to annihilate people who are not believers in God. Moses reminds them not to forget God’s commandments even after they enter the land of Israel, and that they must continue to fear God. The Torah portion also mentions […]
What a wonderful parasha this week. Vaetchanan is loaded with magnificent things. The Ten Commandments, the V’ahavta and the Shema are all found in this parasha. Such a sweet week to give a d’var. Sixty-three years ago, this was my bar mitzvah parasha. My bar mitzvah brought so much joy to so many people who […]
