Parshah Columnists

On the final day of his life, Moses rejoiced when the people worried that the Levites would keep the Torah to themselves. This provides us with a lesson on how to approach our own Judaism.

How can the Torah expect everyone to be giddy about their chance to serve G-d? What if I’m not?

The first approach reflects the depth of one’s faith, but is likely to be a very abstract and amorphous response. The second, steeped in intellect, may lack the spontaneity and power of the first, but truly penetrates the entire personality of the individual

Couldn’t G‑d have given the poor farmer who traveled all the way to Jerusalem a simpler way of saying “thank you”?

How many people craftily put forth a clean and honest image while every night they sweep their dirt under the proverbial carpet?

Why does the Torah cite only the curses and not use the positive language of the blessings?

The same way our inboxes get flooded with spam, our brains are spammed throughout the day with a bombardment of random thoughts, impulses and desires.

Bringing bikkurim was more than just the Jewish farmer’s token of appreciation to G‑d for the blessings of the harvest.

Where do we find our delight? Where is our enthusiasm and passion?

One of the prison guards told the Rebbe that when he beats a prisoner, he drinks his tea without its usual dose of sugar. Just watching the torture sweetened his tea... With a Jew, it's the other way around: knowing that a fellow's needs are unsatisfied somehow takes away the appetite for celebration, even if he personally may have reason to rejoice

Naomi is married to a very busy, goal-oriented individual. She often laments how due to his overloaded schedule, they rarely spend quality time with each other . . .

Joy is the key to inner mastery. It enables a person to win as a human being and as a Jew, despite the pain

Some questions don’t need to be asked – they jump out at you. Even if G-d intended to bring punishments on His people, what is the purpose in describing them in the Torah in such gruesome detail?

Amongst those who commit themselves to the belief that everything is coming from G‑d and therefore is good, there are two levels...

Abraham blazed the path of our destiny. Our ancestors paved that path with their suffering and tears. We are simply asked to accept it

Relationships can be said to progress along a path of four stages: proclamation, selection, glory and unification.

You may not recognize what it is that you desire. And who knows what you might chase in your attempt to quench that desire? But you must enter it.

For several years now, positive thinking has been in vogue. But the New York Times reports on a group of psychologists who are “worried that we’re not making space for people to feel bad” and advocate a return to the psychologist’s original role of “focusing on mental illness and human failing . . .”

One reason religion has survived in the modern world despite four centuries of secularization is that it answers the three questions every reflective human being will ask at some time in his or her life: Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?

Stories give the group a shared identity and sense of purpose.

For the common folk, this mitzvah was so precious. It represented the thrill of “I get to bring a gift to G‑d!”