Category: Chumash Shemot

(click here for print version) At the end of World War Two, the United States Army liberated the Concentration camp of Buchenwald, and began the painstaking process of administering to the survivors. Rabbi Herschel Schechter, who was the chaplain of the US eighth army, stayed in the camp and attempted, as much as was possible, to create a semblance of Jewish experience for those who had survived. How does one run a prayer service, and encourage people to pray to a G-d who seemed to have been so absent in those terrible years? Rabbi Schechter requisitioned one of the barracks and set it up as a makeshift synagogue, and began running services for those who were interested. One day, noticing one of the survivors standing on the side watching the prayers, Rabbi Schechter invited him to join the service, but the man refused. Nonetheless, he remained in the barracks, watching the service with the vacant eyes that were common in the...

(click here for print version) Is G-d Just a Cosmic Party Pooper? How to Find Our Mission in Life I recall a cute comic strip depicting Moses coming down from Mt.Sinai with the Ten Commandments written in stone. ...

(click here for print version) Friday night. The sun has long since set, dark clouds hide the stars, and the wind is howling off the Shouf mountain range in central Lebanon. I had managed to quietly sing the Kabbalat Shabbat service, while en-route to the ambush site, and even pray the evening service while in the staging ground, before giving my men a final inspection, but I had no idea what to do about Kiddush. In such situations we usually ate from our packs, one or two at a time, and we had a system to ensure that we didn...

(click here for print version) The Nourishing Power of Love Is Your Food Missing Vitamin L? When the Israelites were wandering in the desert, G-d fed them with a hitherto unknown substance called ...

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(click here for print version) What does it mean to truly live in, to truly be in a moment? One day, when we are all up in heaven, perhaps I will have the chance to ask Noam Apter, 22, of Otniel. Friday night: White tablecloths and china, the light of the Shabbat candles, and the sweet singing of Shalom Aleichem, a song of peace that begins every Shabbat dinner in every Jewish home. No matter where Jews have been, and how unwelcoming and challenging the world around them has been, they are still singing of peace on Friday nights. And this particular Friday night in the Yeshiva at Otniel was no different. Except that while the students of this yeshiva and their families were singing of peace, no one heard the silent click of wire cutters slicing through the security fence. Smiling faces, Kiddush over wine, and the blessing of the children; every Friday night for thousands of years Jewish parents have...

(click here for print version) Where is G-d, the Miracle Maker? People often say, ...

(click here for print version) Are we here because we have made the right choices, or have all the right choices really been made for us? It was meant to be a routine patrol which, but for this incident, would long have been forgotten. We were on reserve duty during the Intifada (the original Intifada, back in 89...

(click here for the print version) Identity Crisis is a Gift: Awakening to the Role and Goal of Your Soul Kirk Douglas, the actor, once told me that when people compliment him on a performance, they often tell him how great he was at losing himself in the part. "You just became Vincent Van Gogh! You were so wonderful." And he answers, "No, you lost yourself in the part. I can't afford to lose myself in the part. I have to pay attention to the director, to the cues. I have to hit the mark just right so the action is in the camera frame. I must stay aware that I am an actor playing a role." A good actor plays his part, but he doesn't get lost in his part. He can't even begin to think he is the character he is playing. On the other hand, he still embraces that role with a tremendous amount of love and gives everything...