Feeling down about the state of the world? Hard to read the newspapers with all of the tragedies that have become part and parcel of our daily lives? Well the month of Elul is here –
Years ago, someone gave me a Tony Robbins CD to listen to. I was excited to hear what one of the most inspirational people of modern times would have to say and how it could change my life for the better.
A young man, a congregant of our synagogue stood spellbound as he watched my brother-in-law Rabbi Shloime, of blessed memory, totally absorbed in and transported by the experience of prayer.
Last week an anonymous buyer bought a short note written by Albert Einstein for $1.56 million an auction in Jerusalem, an all-time record for the sale of a document in Israel.
Many years ago I heard a wonderful story about a great Jewish sage. Someone had written him a letter on the following lines. “I am in a state of deep depression. I wake up each morning dreading the day ahead.
I once visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. What impacted me most was a video interview. An old man told of finding his friend davening (praying) one day. “Chaim, what are you praying?”
Human nature is drawn to the negative. We pay attention to the stains, the frustrations, that which irritates us. We are surrounded by news that makes us feel down and fear of the unknown.
Every person has one thing that he is living for. Let’s call it a “personal bottom line.” For some it is money, for others prestige, for others pursuit of pleasure. Now let’s imagine that you’re faced with a situation where you are about to lose everything –
Our Sages assert that the Israelites in Egypt were on the lowest level of spiritual impurity. They worshipped idols. They were debauched and dissolute. So how did they merit the grand and miraculous redemption?
What Does Change Look Like?
For Alfred Nobel, the beginning of change looked like an obituary in a French newspaper: his own. Nobel, a Swedish arms-manufacturer, invented dynamite.
Beethoven wrote more than 700 works of music, some after he became deaf. It is said that he sawed the legs off his piano, and used the floor as a sounding board. Lying with his ear to the wooden floor,
In his autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom,” South African President Nelson Mandela, considers the balance needed when reflecting on the past and the future, on achievements and failures:
One day, when Meir Schuster and his friend were in their early twenties, they had just finished praying at the Western Wall. They watched other young people going to the Wall and being lit up by the experience. And the thought struck both of them at the same time:
For years, the conventional wisdom was that to get ahead in secular society, you had to tone down your Jewishness. But Senator Joseph Lieberman has changed all that. As an orthodox Jew, he observes Shabbat, eats kosher, and prays three times a day.
Dealing honorably in business is the acid test for whether religion is truly relevant. Many have a mistaken idea of what is within the scope of Jewish tradition.
Imagine inviting someone over for a fancy, four-course dinner. After serving the melon, they thank you and get up to leave. “Where are you going? We’re just getting started. The best is yet to come!”
It is commonly understood that Abraham’s major contribution was the doctrine of monotheism. He taught an idolatrous world that there is only one God, and that idea is synonymous with Judaism. But I have to tell you that that picture is not accurate.
THE ELEMENT OF WATER: PLEASURE CENTERS OF THE SOUL We yearn for love and connection, as well as a pull toward physical gratification.
One of the highest human pleasures is that of accomplishment and completing a job well done. In order to make man a vehicle to accept His good, God created him with the capacity to enjoy. There are many things that give man pleasure.
In August 2005, the London Zoo was the first in the world to highlight a new exhibit: human beings. After an exhaustive contest, eight candidates (a chemist included) were selected to serve as pioneers for this trailblazing attraction. In cages, with keepers in tow, these eight men and women “monkeyed around.”
What happens to us after we die? Who are we, truly, as humans? What is our purpose for living? What is the higher power in the universe? These are just some of the “light” questions that are explored in Disney/Pixar’s latest movie, “Soul.”
The secret to Jewish longevity is our power of narrative. Howard Gardner, professor of education and psychology at Harvard University, is one of the great minds of our time. He is best known for his theory of “multiple intelligences,
The Talmud (Sotah 14a) instructs us in the Mitzvah of imitating God in all His ways. Just as God clothes the naked, visits the sick, comforts mourners and buries the dead, so should you emulate
In 1964, Arno Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson, two young astronomers, stumbled on the origins of the universe completely by accident. Sitting at their desks at Bell Labs, New Jersey, they suddenly picked up a strange buzzing sound from their telescope.
The Torah describes the infamous episode when Moses performs the very first example of tikkun olam, a mending of the past and rectification of what was broken, namely the sin of the Golden Calf. The Torah signals this by using essentially the same word at the beginning of both episodes.
Louis Armstrong, popularly known as “Satchmo”, was a towering, influential and beloved jazz musician. His career spanned five decades and different eras in the history of jazz. And for most of his adult life, the Baptist wore a Star of David necklace, the quintessential symbol of Judaism.
Over the past few months I’ve been having conversations with leading thinkers, intellectuals, innovators and philanthropists for a BBC series on moral challenges of the 21st century. Among those I spoke to was David Brooks, one of the most insightful moralists of our time.
In a sense, the entire first book of the Torah is a book of sibling intrigue, involving competition, jealousy and even murder. As Abel’s bloodied, lifeless body lies on the ground in a lonely field, God calls out to Cain and asks, or perhaps demands, “Where is your brother Abel?’
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the gift of free will. My rebbe, Rabbi Yitchok Hutner of blessed memory, characterized Rosh Hashana as the holiday that celebrates the gift of bechira , free will. Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment and there cannot be judgment without choice. The greatest possible acknowledgement of the importance and power of human choice is God’s willingness to sit in judgment and carefully weigh the merits of man’s decisions.
As the High Holidays approach, here’s how to make real changes and get the new year off to a fresh start.Twelve days. That’s the length of time most people keep New Year’s resolutions, according to one 2018 study.
