365Shorts

Avraham promises his guests a morsel, but gives them a feast. Why? My brother Isaiah points out that he sees G-d in the men. He recognizes the divine in others. While I think this is true, I think the point here is a little different. Avraham promises them a morsel, but never says they should… Continue reading Vayeira

Lech Lecha starts like an old-fashioned long distance marriage. The bride leaves her land, the land of her birth and her father’s house and goes to a distance place she’ll be shown. The proposal is a good marriage in return. Avram accepts this marriage  just as Rivkah does later. He doesn’t know everything about the ‘groom.’… Continue reading Lech Lecha

Hashem’s policy of ‘encouraging through forgiveness’ ends in Parshat Bereshit. We have now entered another stage – ‘encouragement through threat.’ The story of the flood is the baseline of this threat – like a paddle hanging on the wall of an old-fashioned school house. Recording the measurements and capturing the dates of this event serve… Continue reading Noach

In the last week, I’ve witnessed an overriding theme develop among conservatives in the analysis of the recent election.  From Mark Steyn to Rabbi Pruzansky they see a fundamental shift in the American spirit: Americans have become big babies begging for a nanny state to take care of them. They like free stuff and will… Continue reading Better than Eden (a reaction to the 2012 election)

There is a critical line: “And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.  “And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work which God in creating had made.”… Continue reading Bereshit

We have the deer and hart included because it teaches us a core lesson of Kedusha. You can’t offer a blemished animal because it has evil in it (loss of potential). And you can’t offer a deer or hart because Kedusha is about converting creation into holiness. But if you don’t create something you can’t… Continue reading Shavuot (second day)/Pesach (eighth day)/Shemini Atzeret

Rabbi Twerski of Portland Oregon asked me how it could say Torah tziva lanu Moshe, morasha kehilat Yaacov “Moses commanded us a Torah, an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob” if Moshe is speaking. If we go back to the beginning of the Parsha, Moshe is called “the man of G-d” for the first and only… Continue reading V’zot Ha’beracha

As mentioned in the parsha writeup, there is a phrase repeated three times in this short reading in various variations – matzati chain be-einecha, I find favor in your eyes. It is a common turn of phrase – but never this common. Christians might translate it as ‘grace’. It is not exclusive to G-d. Jacob says it to Esav. It first… Continue reading Shabbat Chol Hamoed (Pesach and Sukkot)

“On the same day it shall be eaten; ye shall leave none of it until the morning.” After this command there is a litany of emphasis on it. Why is it so important? If Kedusha is maximizing the conversion of spiritual potential into reality then it becomes clear. If you sacrifice an animal in Kedusha… Continue reading Sukkot (first two days)/Pesach (second day)

The Holy of Holies is referenced as being within the Parochet/curtains or the House of Parochet/Curtains. The woven curtains cross between the outside world and the holiness of the Mishkan and the Holy places and the Holy of Holies. The inner curtains are a point of crossover between the timeless and the point of conversion… Continue reading Yom Kippur