Rabbi’s Torah Commentary

Let’s go back a couple thousand years. We find ourselves standing in the courtyard of the Holy of holies. The sacrificial cult reigns supreme in the life of Judea’s religious population – where we get the name of our tradition – Judaism – the religion of the Judah-ites. The high priest was a politically appointed […]

“Kedoshim tih’yu, ki kadosh Ani – Be holy, because I (God) am holy” What does holy mean? When I was young, I learned stories about Prophet Elijah coming to do good work in the dress of a beggar. Naively, as a young child might, I saw a man dressed that way and asked my Grandma […]

We all know the line, “The devil is in the details.” Sometimes the lessons are obvious – sometimes less so. The rabbis teach us that the most profound teachings come from the most subtle ambiguities. As Moses shares the rules on Yom Kippur and eating meat, we find the following (17:15), “Any person, whether citizen […]

“Why are we here?” This question has plagued philosophers for the length of our existence. We experience birth, life, and then death. What’s the point? We often try to address the conundrum by answering questions tangent to the real problem. We spend our energy debating the value we experience being here. We have no way […]

Tonight, we embark on the annual journey through the story of our people and our story of freedom. As I recall the story of the exodus from Egypt, I hear the screams of slaves under the task master’s whips. I ache over the loss of lives and the human indignations slave masters imposed on the […]

Lord Acton taught us, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” American Statesman Adlai Stevenson said, “Power corrupts, but lack of power corrupts absolutely.” Novelist William Gaddis disagreed, “Power doesn’t corrupt people. People corrupt power.” These thoughts put power into perspective. Power is intoxicating, and it is jealous. Once it takes hold, it […]

Warning – I am about to rant. I get a regular news feed on my phone. It evolves every few hours, as the day progresses (or regresses). I get updates on the war, politics, sports, and everything else. It’s a pretty well-rounded newsfeed, most of the time. Lately, the amount of time/articles devoted to Will […]

As I age, I find that even while my taste buds long for certain foods, my digestive system hates when I give in. I never had these problems as a young person. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, cabbage – I love them, but they don’t love me. I do cheat occasionally. When we have Chinese food […]

Growing up, I always thought that “Surfing Movies” were about Jews. I think it was Cliff Robertson in the movie “Gidget.” He was the leader of the surfers – the “Big Kahuna.” As I grew up in religious school, I fantasized about the High Priest surfing on the Red Sea. Much to my chagrin as […]

A couple of years (or so) ago, I spoke and wrote about the differences between holy, holey, and wholly. To recap, large parts of our population want and have little to do with religion. They find it inconsistent and lacking value in their lives. As with a sock that is worn through and cannot cover […]