Warsaw 7, August 2020 – There are two sides to every piece of Torah; There is what is said, and there is what is not said. To this must be added the context in which something is said and the concern about what COULD have been said instead and then, of course, there are also our own individual and communal reactions to what is said and how we relate to it, whether and how we accept it or[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Va’etchanan

Love of God is a basic concept of our faith. Although the idea that the Supreme One reciprocates this love, at all times, is theologically problematic. Nevertheless our history indubitably contains records of the immense love He bestowed upon us – His people. To earn the title of God’s beloved (Hebr. ohavi) is to obtain the highest[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Devarim

Prayer is the salient expression of religious emotion and of man’s relationship with God. Presumably every religious person has asked themselves this question: how much prayer do I need in my life and does it make my connection to God stronger? There may be many answers to this question. One analysis may be: I need to make teshuvah, come closer to God and use religion to organize my life[…]

Thoughts on Parashat Mattot-Masei

Recently I re-watched an American classic “Saving Private Ryan”. The main character of the story, Captain John H. Miller, played by Tom Hanks, (spoiler alert) was killed by a German soldier whose life was spared earlier by captain Miller himself, in an act of benevolence and mercy. This motif, which is pretty common in western literature, reminded me of a similar theme in the biblical story of the total[…]

Beit Warszawa, 10th. July 2020 – I have met Pinchas many times. There seems indeed to be a Pinchas in almost every community I have served! He (or she) is enormously enthusiastic, deeply committed, impulsive, with a tendency to swift and extreme action that is not always thought through properly. They mean well and they […]

Focus on Things Within Your Impact Not on Your Feelings Regarding Things

Technological progress and the speed of information exchange in the modern world has had many advantages. We have at hand basically whatever we need: we can buy almost anything we want within minutes and have it in our hand the next day, we can order tickets to visit countries we have never been and book hotel rooms for when[…]