Harry Rothenberg reminds us that it is really important for the mourners to say Kaddish and it is really important for us to console them properly. View this video directly on VIMEO
Read MoreI recently observed the Yarhzeits (yearly anniversary of the passing of a relative) of my parents of blessed memory. Unfortunately due to the current circumstances I was not able to say kaddish for them. Thank G-d in the last couple of weeks I have been able to attend a minyan again, albeit outdoors, socially separated and with a mask, but a minyan nonetheless. I recited kaddish at the first minyan ...
Read MoreRabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – On Book Burning and Political Correctness – Parshat Chukat/Balak 5780
No one suffers more from the lack of intellectual discourse and the enforcement of politically correct speech more than the Jews. View this video directly on Vimeo.
Read MoreWhy wasn’t Moshe allowed to enter the Promised Land? View this video directly on Vimeo
Read MoreThe Torah reading for this week begins with an intricate series of laws regarding purity, impurity and purification. This involved many details which appear to some to be, excessive, a complaint commonly heard about Jewish law in general. I would like to explain one idea behind all this detail: consistency. Consistency is much more difficult to achieve than one might expect. Imagine someone waking up one morning and making a firm ...
Read MoreRabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – Partnership and the Talmud – Parshat Chukat 5779
Rabbi Becher is learning tractate "Bava Basra", which opens with the laws of shared living spaces, but in essence is talking about how our entire society is one large partnership, and that we should act as if we are partners with our fellow man. View this video directly on Vimeo.
Read MoreRabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – The Little Things Also Count – Parshat Balak 5778
Rabbi Becher looks at the incident in this week's parsha when Bilam is rebuked for hitting his donkey, and learns from that how even minor details of our actions are important - no matter how great (or evil) the main action is. View this video directly on Vimeo.
Read MoreRabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – Laws of Morality, Laws of Nature, Laws of Torah – Parshat Chukat 5778
Rabbi Becher wonders why we have to follow laws of the Torah if we don't understand the reason behind them. View this video directly on Vimeo.
Read MoreThis week’s Torah portion, Chukat, deals with an example of a category of Jewish laws known as chukim, Divine statutes that the human mind cannot completely comprehend. The purpose of the chukim is to teach us that human understanding is not a prerequisite for doing that which is right, and the criteria for determining good and evil are not within the province of the human being. In Judaism, absolute good ...
Read MoreHarry Rothenberg reminds us that consoling a mourner isn't easy, but it's important. View this video directly on VIMEO
Read More