jewishfamily

What does it mean to go out of Egypt, especially today when are no longer slaves in Egypt? On Pesach G-d took us out of Egypt, mitzraim. Chassidus teaches that mitzraim also means metzorim, limitations. So on Pesach G-d takes us out of our personal mitzraim, our personal limitations. But what does that really mean? […]

Everybody needs to blame somebody. It is a universal trait. Whenever something goes wrong in the political arena they start pointing the finger at someone. Someone has to be blamed for mistakes. There is always someone that is sacrificed in the blame game.  Because somebody always has to be blamed. It is easier to blame

It is Adar! Mishenichnos Adar marbim bsimcha…when Adar enters, we increase in joy.  But it is not always easy to feel happy. How should we increase in joy if we dont feel happy in life? if we have problems, worries, fears, aggravations….it is very difficult to suddenly develop a feeling of joy.  I was contemplating

G-d blessed the seventh day and He made it holy: this is speaking about the Shabbat (Shabbos). What did He bless it with? He blessed it with manna. What is manna? It is an abundance that sustains. It is parnassa. So from keeping Shabbat we are blessed with an abundance of parnassa. Even though we do not

We are just emerging from the holiday of Passover, our festival of freedom. But freedom from what?  We were freed from Egyptian slavery thousands of years ago and we became  Jewish nation. But we are still in exile. We do not yet have the redemption.  What are we actually celebrating on Passover? The first redemption

I was thinking about how the entire world is now wearing masks.  What is a mask? It hides who you are. On Purim, there is a custom for us to wear masks. The mask hides our face but allows us to reveal another aspect of ourselves.  In life we all wear masks on a spiritual

Now, just before the coming of Moshiach, the whole world is a big test.  We are all challenged with a society that is filled with darkness,confusion, immorality, wrong ideas and lack of clarity.   But as we read the story of Avraham Avinu in the Torah, we see how Avraham lived at a time where there

The Torah says there is a time for silence and a time to speak…..I never contemplated that idea very deeply until now…. I always thought I had a good and close relationship with my younger sister. We both are the “frum”ones in the family. I always felt we should be close. We grew up together,

Today, 5th of the month Menachem Av, is the hilloula (yahrtzeit) of the Ari Hakodesh, who brought to this world the teachings of kabbalah, the inner part of Torah. It also is the yahrtzeit of my father Meir ben Rachel. So in honor of these great souls I would like to speak about the portion

Apathy is a big problem our society faces today.  When we hear of a tragedy, we may shed a tear or feel sad, but we also do not FEEL the pain of the others in a deep way. We move on with life and chalk it up to another tragic news. In Israel, there are