How important is it that we listen to our rabbis and teachers? On the one hand, there is something beautiful about a leadership that encourages its students to think for themselves, rather than relying completely on their rabbis and teachers’ opinions. As an example, I distinctly recall my Roshei Yeshiva, Rav Lichtenstein & Rav Amital’s strong reaction to students in the yeshiva who opposed their political views; stating unequivocally that such opposition was healthy, especially as they both felt Halacha (Jewish law) did not mandate a specific political opinion. In fact, this seemed so refreshingly different from the ‘Chareidi’ world whose rabbinic leaders seemed to regularly demand fealty to every political and administrative decision.
And yet, the Torah nonetheless clearly commands us to follow our Torah leaders’ rulings as stated clearly in the Torah:
“You shall do according to what they tell you…and keep it according to all which they teach you. According to the Torah they will teach you … you...
Grabbing the Moment
A few years ago, I was privileged to share in a magnificent experience the South African Jewish Community has labelled Sinai Indaba. Five thousand Jews came together in the city of Johannesburg to share and study Torah and there are no words to describe the passion, excitement, warmth and the inspiration we all shared for 24 magnificent hours.
One of the speakers, Charlie Harari, shared an idea that really got me thinking: This coming week we will read the book of Esther and celebrate Purim. It’s interesting that we call the story of Purim the book of Esther, because Esther is a pretty unlikely heroine, to say the least; if there was ever a person not in control of her life, it was Esther.
At the start of the book (really the Scroll) of Esther, she seems to have absolutely no will of her own; in fact, her name Esther comes from the Hebrew word seter, which means hidden; she...
Purim: Celebrating Oneness and Love
A rabbi gets a new position in a synagogue. It is his first day on the job, and the congregation gets to the point in the prayer where they recite the Shema, “Hear Israel, G-d our G-d is one.” At that moment half of the congregation stands up and starts singing the Shema, while the other half stays seated. Those standing start screaming at the ones sitting down, “Stand up, stand up, it’s the Shema!” The ones sitting down say, “Oh, you’re crazy! Sit down, sit down, it’s the Shema!” The rabbi had never seen anything like this.
The next day the same thing happens. The ones that got up start yelling at the ones sitting down, the ones sitting down start yelling at the ones standing up. The rabbi goes over to one of the members and says, “I don’t know what to do. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this. What is the tradition of the synagogue?”
“I don’t...
I noticed the jeep in the distance almost immediately; it was impossible to miss, raising a dust column you could see for miles. We were on maneuvers deep in the Negev desert, and there wasn’t anything else around but us, so we knew immediately the jeep had to be headed our way. Sure enough, twenty minutes later the jeep pulled up alongside our tank and a man with colonel’s oak-leaves on his shoulders got out and stretched. Our commander jumped down for a hurried conference, and we were only too happy for the brief respite; I was in the middle of tank commander’s course, one of the most depressing experiences I have ever had, and any break from the grind was always welcome.
A moment later our commander ordered the gunner off the tank and told us that this colonel was going to be joining us in the tank and that we did not need to know why or what it...
Purim: Secrets Behind the Purim Mask
Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews from the wicked Haman's scheme to exterminate all the Jewish men, women, and children living in the Persian empire in the year 357 B.C.E., which essentially meant all the Jews in the world. Some of the commandments of Purim, such as hearing Megillat Esther, which recounts the Purim story, and enjoying a festive meal, are obvious ways to commemorate this deliverance.
Other commandments and customs have no apparent connection to what happened on Purim. Why are we required to give charity to the poor, send two food items to a friend, and get so drunk that we do not know the difference between Haman, the villain, and Mordechai, the righteous hero of the story? (This last commandment, I understand, is very rigorously kept in college dorms all year round.)
What is behind the customs to dress up in costume and to eat hamentaschen, delicious, sweet tarts named literally, "Haman's...
Human beings are like no other animal, in that we will sometimes go against every natural instinct for reasons that often cannot be explained. We will give away our food, despite being hungry, when others are in need. We will give another our coat, in the midst of winter, despite the bitter cold, because someone else is suffering. And sometimes, we will sacrifice everything for something greater than ourselves.
Half an hour’s walk from the gates of the old city of Jerusalem lays a hill which today sits in the heart of the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood of Jerusalem. Situated overlooking the main road from the Damascus gate, the average visitor will miss this little hill, unless he knows what he is looking for. Even from the air, this small hill can easily be missed.
But to any Israeli paratrooper, and for that matter any Israeli who knows the story of the six-day war, this strategic bump on the topography of the map,...
Unmasking Nature:
G-d’s Love is Here and Now
According to Jewish Tradition, as soon as the Hebrew month of Adar begins we must increase our joy because the miracle of the Purim Story happened on that month. Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews in the year 357 BCE from the wicked Haman’s scheme to exterminate all the Jewish men, women and children living in the Persian Empire, which meant all the Jews in the world at that time. In the Purim story, however, there were no miraculous divine interventions. There were no supernatural plagues and no splitting of any seas. In fact, G-d’s name is not even mentioned once in the entire Purim story recorded in the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther).
Although the holiday of Purim is celebrated only on the 14th of the month of Adar, and in some places on the 15th, the whole month is identified with greater joy. Purim is so abundant with joy that its celebration overflows into the entire month,...
In a cattle car in Poland, in the summer of 1942, Reb Azriel Dovid Fastag, who was the composer of tunes for the Moshitzer rebbe, was headed to his death in Treblinka. It is impossible to imagine what it must have been like. Over a hundred Jews, forced to stand for days on end with only a bucket in the middle of the car for waste, no room to even sit or lie down, no food or water, in the stifling summer heat, all crammed in together heading to whereabouts unknown, for reasons they could not even imagine.
Listening to the clickety-clack of the wheels of the train, a tune sprang into his mind, and he composed the now-famous “Ani Ma’amin” tune:
“I believe, with complete faith, in the coming of the messiah, and even though he may tarry, I await him nonetheless…”
And he began to hum and then to sing the haunting melody, in the crowded cattle car full of...
Successful People Are Unaccomplished
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy, a day of solemn rest to the Lord. (Exodus 35:2)
During the forty years that the Israelites wandered in the desert they carried with them a portable temple referred to as the Tabernacle or the Mishkan. The creative acts that are forbidden on Shabbat are those acts similar to the skills that went into building or assembling the Mishkan. The Talmud outlines 39 different categories of such creative acts that are forbidden to do on Shabbat. They represent our ultimate power of creativity which is to build a temple that accommodates the presence of G-d on earth. Of course we know that G-d does not literally dwell in the Mishkan, however, the Mishkan symbolizes our ability to serve G-d and infuse every moment and every place with the presence of G-d. In other words, the greatest accomplishment of a human being is to serve to make manifest G-d’s presence...
There are sounds that you hear and things that you see that will always make you stop whatever you are doing. People yelling, the sound of an ambulance racing down a Jerusalem street, or even the backfire of a car, if you’ve just finished reserve duty...and always, the sound of a child crying.
I recall one time I was standing at the entrance to a supermarket, and saw a little girl, who couldn’t have been more than three or four, sobbing her eyes out. I didn’t see any adults near her, and she didn’t seem to be physically hurt, so I walked over, figuring she was lost and looking for a parent... as I got within a couple of feet, a man standing on the side, whom I hadn’t noticed before, took a few steps closer and gently nudged me with his hand as if to say ‘don’t trouble yourself’, while continuing to speak on his cell phone. I assumed he...
