Converts: Unsung Heroes of the Oral Torah
Shavuot 5778 / 2018
“And you shall know the soul of a convert, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Symbolic Resonance Permeates the Seder
Pesach 5778 / 2018 We start the seder by pronouncing the fifteen steps that comprise the ritual which marks the birthday of our peoplehood.
The Akeida: A Hero’s Journey
Rosh HaShana 5778 / 2017 Rabbi Dr. Yehuda Gellman’s exploration of the Mei HaShiloach’s teachings on the Akeida that appears in his book “The Fear, the Trembling, and the Fire.”
When the People are Ready the Obstacles Dissolve
Tisha B’av 2017.
Enemies are the primary obstacle to quality of life. If they would just disappear, we could finally focus on our soul work instead of getting sidetracked by the need for self-defense. But it’s not so simple.
Blessed Be the Makom…Blessed Be the Giver of Torah…
Pesach 5777 / 2017 HaMakom refers to the womblike vacuum produced by the cosmic tsimtsum that hosts the unfolding of creation from Bereshit till the end of time.
The Torah of Atzilut: The Torah of Souls
Shavuot 2016 /5776 At Sinai we got the Torah of Atzilut—the Torah of Unanimity, a searing revelation of presence.
A Short Discourse on Freedom
Pesach 2016 /5776 The reward phase of history called the world-to-come is characterized by unfettered freedom.
“HOW MANY FACES HAS THE HOLY ONE…”
Shavuot 5775 / 2015 Elokim is more a pathway than an entity. It meets us where we are but it also reels us in.
Elijah the Peacemaker
Pesach 2015 / 5775 Who is Elijah? What does he have to do with the seder? Why do we recite verses of vengeance when he arrives?
Sisera’s Mother Sets the Tone for our Rosh HaShana Shofar
Rosh HaShana, 5775 / 2014
The essential obligation of Rosh HaShana is not to pray all day, or to have a big family meal, but rather, simply, to hear the shofar.
Remember Amalek…Don’t Forget
PurimBurst 2014 Who is this Amalek that three of our 613 mitzvot revolve around him? How do we “remember to eliminate the memory” while also never forgetting it?
Master of Prayer: Tisha b’Av 2013
During the three weeks our obligation is to decrease simcha. We focus on what is missing, bewail those lacks, and downgrade our devekut. That is what it means to mourn.
Lavan the Aramean
Lavan becomes the prototype of the irrational component of anti-semitism, the Jew-hatred that pops up for no good reason.
The different terms for love
The different terms for love and how they organize into a series of milestones that mark out a spiritual path.
Three Levels of Prayer: Rosh HaShana
Eliyahu Dessler teaches that there are three levels of prayer, which can be reformulated as three ways to approach Rosh Hashanna.
Tisha B’Av 5771 / 2011
How do we hope for mashiach with certain faith that he REALLY could materialize at any moment and yet also find a way to embrace our present moment with unconditional acceptance.
Tikkun of Speech: Pesach 2011
On Pesach, our bodies were released from slavery and we literally exited the country, but a more fundamental deliverance unfolded beneath the surface.
Tisha B’Av 5769 / 2009
In the month of Av, says Sefer Yetzira, the sense of listening is up for tikun. Our test is to not get hypnotized by voices that claim authority but do not embody Torat Emet.
The Inevitable Fall From Grace: Pesach 2009
The sedar is a ritual meditation—a symbolic reenactment of our journey from exile to redemption. The whole point of a ritual is to bring light, fixing and healing into the deepest layers of the soul.
Tisha B’Av 5768 / 2008
The spies understood that crossing into the holy land would initiate a new era—now they were princes, but across the border, in the new world, they’d become obsolete.
Matzah: Bread of Humility
The Ari declares that “on sedar night a conception occurred, and seven days later was the birth.” Yet what is this Kenesset Yisrael that was “conceived” on sedar night and born at the sea?
Slavery, Redemption and Matzah
Thoughts on Slavery, Redemption and Matzah;
Based on teachings by the Freidiker Rebbe of Chabad
The Removal of Chametz
Everyone knows that on Pesach, the removal of all chametz (leavened grains) from our household mirrors the removal of inflated ego states from our personalities.
“Pesach is the Conception”
On Pesach eve, the soul of Israel made contact with its body, i.e., the 600,000 families then under Moses’ charge. The Mystical Body of Israel was conceived on seder night.
The Secret of Eating at the Seder
Rabbi Tsadok HaKohen says that humanity’s first sin was not Adam and Eve’s eating of forbidden fruit, but rather the way they ate it.