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Shabbat: Rest Assured Keep the Shabbat for it is holy unto you..... because in six days G-d made heaven and earth: and on the seventh day He abstained from work and rested. (Exodus 31: 14-17) Most people know what you don’t do on Shabbat: you don’t tear toilet paper, you don’t drive, you don’t write, you don’t turn on lights, you don’t shop, etc. But they don’t know why, and they don’t know what it is you, in fact, do on Shabbat. And of course, when you just focus on what you don’t do on Shabbat, the experience—which is supposed to be joyous and fulfilling—basically ends up sounding like torture. You have to ask yourself, “Is this the way I want to celebrate a holiday? Is this how I want to spend my weekend after working hard all week long?” In order to understand the real meaning of Shabbat, let’s explore the first place it is mentioned in the Torah. This paragraph is from the Book of Genesis and...

“Make it count”. Words that would stay with me forever. Lying on a hill not four hundred yards from two terrorists who were firing indiscriminately on the local Jewish civilians behind us, it should have been simple.  It’s you or them, on top of which you are protecting civilians; women and children taking cover in the homes behind our position.  But sometimes life is not so simple. It was getting darker, and as the sun dropped lower on the horizon, and the light mixed with shadows, it was clear why we could not open fire. Literally in between and all around the two terrorists who were firing were about twenty or thirty little kids. The local Arab school they were firing from was one that was familiar to me, such that I knew this school was never open at 5 in the afternoon. They had brought these children there for a reason: they were hoping we would respond with fire so...

The Gift of Giving: Love’s Secret Service In this week’s Torah Portion we are commanded to bring pure oil to the tabernacle to light the Menorah (candelabra). “And you (Moses) shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.” (Exodus 27:20) The Midrash, which part of Jewish Oral Tradition, asks an obvious question. The entire world is illuminated by G-d’s splendor and yet He tells the Jewish people to bring oil to light the Menorah before Him? The Midrash answers that G-d desires the works of your hands. How can we understand that G-d desires the works of our hand? How can G-d want something from us? What can we give G-d? Does G-d lack anything that we can provide? The Kabbalah teaches that G-d created the world to give us goodness and yet it seems from the Midrash that G-d is not looking to give but really wants to receive. How...

It was known as ‘Shavua Tirgolot’ the ‘week of training drills’. It sounded pretty innocuous, but as it turned out, it was a week of hell. The IDF prides itself on being prepared for any and every eventuality, and to that end, tank crews were trained to automatically respond in any given combat or stress situation. When such events actually occur, you don’t have time to think about what to do, you have to already have it down to a T. If there is a fire in the tank you can’t start debating who gets the fire extinguisher (or activates the spectronics system) and who opens up the engine doors, it all has to be automatic with everyone knowing exactly what they are meant to do, and even what to do in the event someone is injured and their role needs to be filled by someone else. To this end we practiced endlessly what to do in the event there was a fire,...

Is G-d Beyond Us or Within Us? The Torah recounts that G-d instructed the Israelites to build a sanctuary, telling Moses, “Let them build a sanctuary and I will dwell in them.” Note that G-d did not say, “I will dwell in the sanctuary.” G-d said, “in them.” Is G-d beyond us or within us? One day my son Ananiel and my two daughters, Leyadya and Ne’ema, burst into my study. They had obviously been fighting over something and were very upset. I could see that I was chosen to be the lucky arbitrator to resolve another case of sibling rivalry. They shouted at each other, “You go, you ask Daddy.” “No, no! You go, you go.” Finally Ananiel, who was age five at that time, took the challenge and said, “O.K., O.K. Daddy, isn’t it true that G-d is a boy?” Ne’ema and Leyadya, ages eight and nine, had tears in their eyes. I could hear them silently pleading with me,...

Many years ago, long before we founded Yeshivat Orayta, I was privileged to direct a program called Isralight, which was primarily what some would refer to as a ‘Kiruv’ or ‘outreach’’ program. The students, mostly post-College and young professionals, usually came from a very limited Jewish background seeking spirituality and meaning in their lives. I recall one day as we were beginning a new three-week program, a student walked in who looked vaguely familiar. Bare-headed, with a lumberjack beard and wearing jeans and a tee shirt, it took me a minute to realize he was a boy who had been in yeshiva with me, though a few years younger. He came with his non-Jewish girlfriend with whom he was living, and as he did not introduce himself, I decided to pretend I did not recognize him. After a few days of classes and discussion we spent Shabbat with the group in the Old City, and I decided to do something...

The Divine Wants You to be Happy When Rules Become Delicious Recipes for Your Soul “And these are the judgments that you shall place before them.” — Exodus 21:1 "You shall place before them, that is, like a table that is set and ready for eating." — Rashi “Taste and see that G-d is good.” — Psalms 34 LAWS YOU CAN EAT, ENJOY AND SAVOUR  The job of a teacher of Torah is not to be a philosopher, ethical guide or law giver but rather a gourmet chef. A gourmet chef has the ability to bring the taste out of every ordinary cabbage, every simple bean sprout, as well as present it all in a delicious tantalizing way. Once, I went to someone's home to raise funds for my institute. I thought we would have about a ten minute discussion. Instead, we were talking for five or six hours. I hadn't eaten all day, and I was starving. Finally I decided that instead of asking for...

We had an aunt in our family who was a very special person and had been a kindergarten teacher for many years, with a lot of experience in child education. Although she passed away a number of years ago, I still have fond memories of some of the discussions I had with her regarding educational questions. One that stands out in my mind was how she dealt with a child whom she termed a ‘biter’; perhaps seeking attention, he would sometimes bite other children. No amount of explanation and cajoling seemed to work, and one can imagine the impact this must have had on other children and their parents. So, one day when he was caught biting a fellow kindergarten classmate, she promptly took his arm… and bit him back! After a moment of shock, the boy burst into tears, but as she described it to me, it was the last time he bit another child! I wonder what the...

Ready to HotSync Your Soul? Secrets to a Super-Natural Life of Freedom and Synchronicity Years ago, I saw these sandals I really liked. At the time, I knew nothing about these shoes other than I just liked the way they looked. So I went into a store and I tried on a pair, but they didn't feel right. They had all these funny bumps inside of them. I told the salesman, "There is something wrong with these shoes." He said, "No there is something wrong with your feet. You must understand that these shoes are designed to support the shape of a natural foot." "What's unnatural about my feet. They're in their natural place — at the end of my legs." He laughed. "You don't understand. Your feet have taken the unnatural shape of the shoes you've been wearing. And the shoes you've been wearing are good for killing cockroaches in tight corners, but they are not meant to contain feet." I felt insulted so I took...

Recently, I attended the wedding of the daughter of very old friends and was enjoying the palpable joy at the chosson’s tisch (the gathering where the marriage document, the Ketubah, was witnessed and signed with the groom before the ceremony) when the father of the bride approached me and asked me to daven Maariv (lead the evening service). I had a moment of angst as I did not have a siddur (prayer book) on me, nor did it seem anyone else did. But as he seemed pressured to move things along, I did not want to hold things up and so elected to lead the prayers by heart from memory. Thinking about it later it was interesting that the prospect of davening from memory caused me angst; after all, I say these prayers every day and almost always do it from memory; and had I not been asked to lead the service would have done so again, so why the sudden...