Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel once sang, I am a rock, I am an island. And a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries. In those few lines, they captured something hauntingly prophetic — the isolation of…
Tag: Messianic
B’reishit: Dominion or Devotion
There’s a strange irony in our time. We live in an age of deep moral concern, we rally to protect the environment, speak for the voiceless, to stand against injustice. And yet, perhaps the most ancient of injustices goes largely…
Fire and Water: Heaven on Earth
Sukkot is a season overflowing with meaning. It’s a time of joy, gratitude, and celebration — a time when we thank HaShem for His abundant provision. The harvest has come in, the storehouses are full, and the people rejoice in…
Ha’azinu – If Life is a Journey
At the end of his long discourse, Moses breaks into song in Ha’azinu, painting a poetic picture of Israel’s journey into the unknown. It is a song of warning, a song of memory, and a song of hope. In the…
Shabbat Shuvah – Scandalous!
The Bible is the best-selling book of all time—and one of the least read. Even those who profess deep love for Scripture, quoting chapter and verse with ease, rarely read it from cover to cover. We tend to skip the…
Nitzavim – Life, the Gift That Keeps on Giving
In just a few days, the shofar will sound, Rosh Hashanah will dawn, and the Days of Awe will open before us. The Jewish calendar, in its divine wisdom, does not wait for tragedy to remind us of mortality—it sets…
Ki Tetze – Compassion In An Unjust World
Listen to an audio version There’s a park not far from my home that’s well known for its beautifully groomed tulip and rose gardens. My wife and I often go there, and sometimes we’ll sit at the little outdoor café…
Shoftim – The Pursuit of Justice
Parashat Shoftim begins with words that seem to echo across time: “Justice, justice shall you pursue, so that you may live and inherit the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Deut. 16:20). The Torah doesn’t just call…
Re’eh – See With Your Heart
Our parashah begins with a single commanding word: “Re’eh” — See. Moses does not say hear, or remember, or even believe, but see. He calls us to open our eyes to a reality that already lies before us: blessing and…
Eikev – No Machers in the Kingdom
Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Freud, in his own idiom, echoed him: “Where id is, let ego be.” Both saw that most people drift through life half-awake. Judaism answers with something far simpler—and far deeper.…