54 Years, 54 Ideas

What if someone said to you, "I love you, but I don't like your children"? You'd probably say: "You don't know anything about who and what I am, and you don't know what love is, either!"

What do you do if you have a vision, and are determined to see that vision implemented in the life of every man, woman and child on the face of the earth?

Do not be misled by the legendary philanthropy of the Jews, by their saturation of social and humanitarian movements, by their invention of the pushkah, the meshulach and the UJA. Jews do not practice charity, and the concept is virtually non-existent in Jewish tradition

On its way to enter this world, this sphere was shattered apart. What was once the infinity of a perfect globe became two converse hemispheres with finite surfaces. What was once a duet of sublime harmony became two bizarre solos of unresolved discord... Feigning wholeness, the two halves wander aimlessly in space alone

By law, the menorah stood in a chamber into which only kohanim ("priests") were permitted entry. But the law also states that an ordinary person may light the menorah. What is the point -- and lesson -- of this legal paradox?

On the outside, it speaks the language of humankind; on the inside is depth without end. Grasp either end and you have nothing. Grasp both and you have G-d Himself

Why is the belief in Moshiach and the Redemption so central to Judaism? What makes it one of the "thirteen principles" of the Jewish faith upon which its entire edifice rests?

Is it a bad, harmful deed? Is it the very face of death? Is it mere stupidity? Is it a potent opportunity for conquest and growth? Turns out, it's all four.

It's probably the oldest question in the history of human thought. It's surely the most disturbing, the most frequently asked and the least satisfactorily answered. Why, oh why, do bad things happen to good people?

"See, I have set before you life and goodness, and death and evil... Life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse... And you shall choose life..." (Deuteronomy 30:15-19). These three sentences represent three dimensions of choice -- compelled choice, random choice, and essential choice

Man has shrunk over the centuries. Suddenly there were all these other people and species dwarfing our significance. Our planet became infinitesimal speck in a universe of mind-numbing vastness. Did we become humbler?

There's actually a clear ruling in Shulchan Aruch, the Torah's "Code of Law." This law does not even speak about the land of Israel -- it applies equally to Jerusalem and to Wellington, New Zealand

"You're holy, but you stink!" That's what the village children would yell at the bechor (first-born animal) who would often be seen wandering about the shtetel...

As a rule, people don't like rules. We don't like restrictions; we don't like being told what to do

The penimi appreciates the differences between important things and things of lesser importance, between means and ends, between journeys and destinations. But in whatever he is involved, he is fully there. When he's on the way to something, he's fully invested in being on the way to something