Shalom – Salaam

I was once at a resort near Sydney, Australia and it was close to sundown. There were six men in our group and we wanted a minyan for mincha. There were four elderly Jewish men nearby playing cards together, so I went over to ask them if they would join us for 10 minutes. They responded with shock, “We are in the middle of a card game, we can’t stop.” ...

Read More

What Does the Exodus Have to Do With It?

Usually, we classify the mitzvot, commandments, of the Torah into commandments that pertain to our relationship with Hashem and commandments that pertain to our relationship with other people. There are some who had a third category, the commandments that govern the relationship between body and soul, in other relationship with the self. When we think about the commandment to remember the Exodus, we would be inclined to define it as being ...

Read More

Why All the Hype?

In this week’s Torah portion, VaEra, and in the Passover prayers and Haggadah, we emphasize the miraculous nature of the Exodus from Egypt. Moses’ staff became a snake, ten terrifying plagues punished the Egyptians, the Red Sea split for the Jews but drowned Pharaoh’s army and on and on. It does not appear however, that all of these miracles were necessary to expedite the redemption. God could have ended our ...

Read More