by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 24, 2023 | Fear of God, Psalms
As it happens so often, my little boy taught me a big lesson in how to relate to God. The other morning, we went food shopping and he put a package of his favorite candy into the cart. I picked it up and said I did not agree to buy the candy. “But you have to,” he...
by Rabbi Pesach Wolicki | f 24, 2023 | Ki Teitzei
The closing lines of the Torah portion of Ki Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19) deal with an old foe of the People of Israel – Amalek. Remember what Amalek perpetrated against you on the way when you were going out of Egypt. When they chanced upon you en route, struck...
by Mindy Rubenstein | f 23, 2023 | Repentance, Va'etchanan
Sixteen years ago, my husband and I–with our two toddlers–attended a beautiful Shabbat dinner with a rabbi and his family. Though I was born Jewish, I was brought up secular and had little connection to Judaism until then. At that meal I literally fell in...
by Mindy Rubenstein | f 22, 2023 | Joel, Repentance
I grew up secular: American first, Jewish by birth. No one in my circle of family or friends talked about God. Life as I knew it was about work, food and intellect. My extended family includes medical directors, college deans, lawyers, judges, scientists and...
by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 20, 2023 | Psalms
I once went out to the woods to pray. After sitting in silence for over an hour, I heard a faint song. It was the land calling out to me in joy, celebrating the return of the Jews. To the average person working on accepted rules of history and human development, the...
by Rabbi Elie Mischel | f 20, 2023 | Ki Teitzei
Soon after the Communists gained power in Russia, they began placing restrictions on Jewish practices. Ultimately, all Jewish educational institutions were forced to shutter, while those spotted in synagogues risked being fired from their jobs. As the decades passed,...
