Psychology & Behavior

I was going to a funeral. My wife was headed to a sibling’s wedding. On the very same flight!

What’s so terrible, anyway? It’s not as if I was intending to harm anyone. Just a little white lie for short-term gain, with no obvious pain to come.

Did you know that G-d would rather you cooked pork chops than a cheeseburger? That’s right. There is no biblical injunction against cooking pork—although eating it is absolutely forbidden... But it is forbidden to even cook meat together with milk.

The law of the "Four Guardians" as a model for the duties and priviliges of life

In this week's parshah, the Jewish people tell Moses, "All that G-d has spoken, we will do, and we will hear." The greatness of the people of Israel was not that they were prepared to blindly follow G-d's bidding without any understanding. If this were th...

How do I demonstrate proper gratitude for the gifts with which I have been endowed?

Every Jew knows that a Jew doesn’t eat a cheeseburger…but why? What’s the big deal about a drop of milk on my burger? Kabbala explains that milk and meat represents kindness and severity. We must always remember that kindness needs to come first. If our r...

The "That's How G-d Made Me" excuse, the "Sorry I Lost It" excuse, the "I'm Special" excuse, and the "What's the Use" excuse

Rabbi Shmuel was very careful in keeping the accounts of the free-loan fund, marking every transaction carefully in his books...

It was a drastic move, but they felt they had no choice. They fasted and recited Psalms all day. Evoking ancient Kabbalistic formulas, they asked to be given a sign that night in their dreams.