Dear Friends,
Joy is the ultimate vessel. Nothing organizes the chaotic energies of life and allows you to have the perspective that joy brings. In this week’s talk, we discuss the unique structure of the Torah portion of Ki Tavo which the Sages arranged we always read before Rosh Hashana. As we will see, the Parsha has a lot to teach us about how to prepare for the big day that is just around the corner. In this talk we also discuss the Divine mechanics of light, blessing and negativity — dispelling common misunderstandings about what many people misinterpret as vindictiveness.
Dear Friends,
This is a time of fixing, of knocking down walls we’ve put up without even knowing it, of ridding ourselves of contradictions and manifesting on the outside what we truly are on the inside. We also discuss transforming the letter Bais into the letter Aleph, and what the “Apocalypse” is according to the Torah and how we can avoid it.
Dear Friends,
When we enter into Shabbos, we literally transport ourselves into another dimension. It is simultaneously both the journey and the destination — transcendence itself. In this week’s talk, we explore the two names of Shabbos, to try and unlock the mystery of why it is so much more than just another day of the week.
Dear Friends,
Wow, there is a ton of stuff in this week’s talk, exploring everything from fixing the Tree of Knowledge, to the end of death, to why Eliahu lives forever, to the Kabbalah of circumcision, to the connection between Eve and the daughters of Tzlafchad receiving an inheritance in the land of Israel, to making peace, to the walls of Jerusalem. If you make it all the way through this one (it gets deeper as you go along) drop me an email!
Dear Friends,
Tisha B’Av has a duel nature. On the one hand, it is the saddest day of the year. On the other hand, our Sages teach that there is light contained within it that is of the Messianic level. How are we to react? And what does it tell us about living as Jews in general? G-d willing this year we will all celebrate together in the Holy City of Yerushalyim!
Dear Friends,
Judaism believes in happy endings. In modern times this can be seen everywhere from the creation of the “Hollywood Ending”, to good triumphing over evil in comic books. (Superheroes from Superman to Spiderman were the creation of Jews) This optimism is so deeply entrenched that when the words of the Prophets from the Haftorah ends on a sad note, the Sages instituted we go back and repeat the last happy thought and end with that! In this week’s talk, we look at the subject of happy endings, worry, belief and how to put them all together.
Dear Friends,
After we got the Torah at Mount Sinai, the Rabbis teach that we reached the level of Adam and Eve before they ate from the Tree of Knowledge. The question is, why didn’t the final fixing happen then and there? To answer, we revisit what went on in the Garden of Eden before the snake showed up, and what that has to do with our lives today.
Dear Friends,
Is the Torah a book? A scroll? A set of instructions? All of the above, none of the above? Deeper still what does it mean when the Talmud teaches us that the Torah existed 974 generations before the world was created?! Further still, what does it mean when it says that G-d looked into the Torah and created the world? What did He look into exactly?? We can’t really begin to understand our own lives or what the grandness of history is all about until we arrive at a deeper understanding of these questions. In this talk we address what the true giantness of the Torah is all about.
Dear Friends,
What does it mean to unify the Name Yud kay with Vav kay? What does it mean that every Parsha in the book of Shemos/Exodus starts with the letter vav except the final one which starts with the letter aleph? How is the first word of the Torah — Breisheet — a microcosm of human history? How do we go about revealing the hidden? Lots and lots of ideas in this week’s talk!
A Fork In The Road
Dear Friends,
One of the most remarkable passages in the Torah is when Mordecai turns to Queen Esther and says, rest assured that Hashem is going to save the Jewish people — the only question is are you going to be part of it? (4:13) Using this passage as a springboard we look into the parameters of free choice and how Mordecai’s words still echo in our lives today.
