by Eliyahu Berkowitz | f 7, 2023 | Faith, God, Israel, Miracles, Psalms, Tests and Trials
King David started life as a shepherd but he came from a military family. I imagine his brothers coming home on leave, sitting at the dinner table, telling war stories to their red-headed little brother. Of course, David’s rise to the throne began on the battlefield,...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 31, 2023 | Faith, God, Justice, Prayer, Psalms
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz I once stepped into a small synagogue in Jerusalem to sit down and say some psalms. I found an out-of-the-way corner hidden behind a shelf of books and began to recite silently. I was up to Psalm 41 when the door opened and a religious man...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 19, 2023 | Faith, God, Good and Evil, Israel, Psalms, Tests and Trials
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz When I sit down at my Shabbat dinner table and I am blessed to have my four children around me, something strange happens. I look at them but I don’t see them. I look at my 20-year-old daughter and see one moment, caught in time, with her in...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 15, 2023 | Faith, Fear of God, Proverbs, Va'eira
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz “Fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and understanding.” There are several sources for this piece of wisdom. King Solomon, the wisest of the wise, said it in Proverb (1:7). Solomon clearly learned this important maxim from...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 1, 2023 | Faith, God, Prayer, Psalms
By Rabbi Avraham Norin David does not give any indication as to when he composed Psalm 31. Nonetheless, it seems clear that he wrote it while running from an enemy. The commentators assume that it was written as David was fleeing from Saul, after being betrayed by the...
by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 21, 2022 | Chanukah, Covenant, Faith, Mikeitz, Mourning
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz Many scholars place Joseph’s descent to Egypt at around 1500 BCE. The Maccabees dedicated the Temple in year 165 BCE. These two events were separated by more than one thousand years and seem entirely disconnected, but the Torah portion that...
