Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Devarim

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman – Portion of Devarim

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How did it come to this? How could it be that a Former Israeli Chief Rabbi has been indicted for taking millions in bribes, and faces trial for numerous counts of bribery fraud and money laundering? I am not commenting on the case itself, nor am I offering any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the former Chief Rabbi, as my information comes only from the media which is not a court of law. But if a Chief Rabbi can be put on trial for bribery and fraud, something is obviously dreadfully wrong. If a Chief Rabbi can become corrupted, how can we avoid the same pitfalls? Is there a recipe for remaining true to one’s ethical principles? This Shabbat we begin reading the fifth and final book of the Five Books of Moses, Sefer Devarim (Deuteronomy). In this book Moshe gives his farewell soliloquy to the Jewish people as the first verse suggests: “These are the words that Moshe spoke to...
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Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

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Making G-d's Will Ours "Behold you have sinned against G-d. And you your sin will find you." ~~ Numbers 32:23 THE PROCESS OF 'I'-DENTIFYING If G-d were the sun each of us would be a ray of His divine light. The goal of the spiritual disciplines of daily Torah (Bible) life - study, prayer, meditation, and the performance of mitzvas (religious duties; plural formitzvah), is to serve G-d and, thereby, become one with our true essence. Through these practices we experience our self an aspect and individualized expression of the Timeless Universal Self - G-d. The 20th century Kabbalist Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan explains in his book Inner Space that in order to feel this powerful truth, we must learn to disengage our inner self from its outer trappings. In other words, we have to get in touch with our soul as distinct from our persona, thoughts and feelings. The goal of disengaging the self from the outer trappings is to realize that you are not your thoughts, your emotions, your body, your money,...
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Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman

Small Tastings of Torah, Judaism and Spirituality from Rav Binny Freedman

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(print) What makes leaders willing to sacrifice everything? This week marked nine years since my cousin Benjy Hillman fell in battle leading his men into combat in the second Lebanon War in 2006. One would think by now, the tears would no longer flow so easily and the memorial ceremony at his grave would be less gut-wrenching. But watching his mother Judith...
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Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

Sparks – by Rabbi David Aaron

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(print) When the Loser is a Winner The Talmud teaches that King Solomon wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes after he saw prophetically that his kingdom and the Temple that he worked so hard to build would be destroyed. Imagine what a devastating realization that must have been to know that what you invested your entire life will be destroyed. We can understand why he bemoaned, ...
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