Parshah Columnists

When you’re going about your regular day, it’s easy to forget G-d and let the ego come roaring in.

If the kohen is already wearing linen clothes for the separation of the ashes, why ask him to change into a different set of linen clothes for the removal of the ashes?

Amalek is seen as more than just a historical nation that audaciously attacked the Jewish people in the height of their glory.

There is more than one way to minimize the spiritual distance between oneself and G-d. Some of these ways will become obsolete in the Messianic era. But the way of gratitude has no expiry date.

What is thr true nature of sacrifice and worship, and what gets in its way?

If we begin the day with a moment of holiness, if we offer even a small portion of our time to G‑d in the morning, then that experience will affect the rest of the day, infusing it with significance and holiness.

Jews have always understood the power of mindful eating.

We should never be so humble that we miss out on our mission and purpose in life.

As a rabbi, I am often asked to pray for people. This one is in need of a blessing for improved health, the other wants to earn a better living, and so it goes.

The stone was too big for him to move by himself and he could not afford to hire laborers to help him to move it. He saw a vision in which G-d told him: Push it with your little finger...

It's not what you give that is so precious, it's how much of yourself is invested in the gift.

Why do we live? Are we here for ourselves, or is there a deeper purpose?

Advice to ministers, counselors and advisors: change your clothes

There are two ways to deal with our inner demons and dysfunctions. The first, and most natural, would be to fight back. The second approach works by first generating a passion: a passion for G-d and for spiritual development.

There is no getting around it: the Torah talks a lot about animal sacrifices. With all the spiritual opportunities available to us, why are we missing the sacrificing of an actual animal?

His father was Aaron (the first High Priest) and his son was Pinchas (who had a Parshah commemorating his zealous dedication to G‑d), but who was he?

Has the Torah become too enmeshed in the technicalities of the sacrifice itself, allowing the "meaning" of penitence to take a back seat?

Imagine the ruckus that would ensue if the President of the United States were spotted taking out the White House garbage! Yet something similar occurred daily in the Holy Temple...

Unlike a contemporary synagogue service, which chiefly consists of private prayer interspersed with occasional tribal chanting and some stand up/sit down for exercise, the Temple rites were much more exciting: Animal sacrifice, incense burning, multicolored clothing, ritualized musical accompaniment...

The alcoholic in recovery may find that after much honest and hard work, he has finally found a bit of peace. Now that he's finally made it, he doesn't see the great need to be as excited as he was when he was a giddy newcomer...

All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.

The great leaders know their own limits. They do not try to do it all themselves.

It is now more than two years since my arms and lips stopped working . . .