Hi, Hope all is well. And that you’re enjoying what’s left of the summer. … We recently spent a few days in beautiful Door County. And one of the things I love to do there? Go jogging along Lake Michigan. It’s absolutely breathtaking. (I don’t mean the jogging!  I mean the view!) And I started […]

Here’s a great story just in time for Thanksgiving. It’s about Rabbi Israel Salanter, a leading Torah scholar of the 19th century. … One day, he went to a very elegant restaurant, to meet someone. He was seated. And asked the waiter for a glass of water. He waited a while, but the man didn’t […]

Hi, There is no Pope in Judaism. I’m sure you didn’t need me for that! But there’s more to it. What a Pope represents doesn’t exist in Judaism. … The closest we may have ever come? Was probably the High Priest in the Temple.  The Kohain Gadol. He preformed the special Yom Kippur service. What […]

Hi, We can’t seem to avoid it. The Torah keeps coming back to weddings! Now its time for Jacob to find a wife. (Genesis, 28:1-4) … Isaac gives Jacob a charge. “Do not take a wife from the Canaanite women.” Or in other words, “Don’t marry out.” And Isaac sends Jacob to look in his […]

Hi, Hope you’re having a great day! We’ve seen that in Jewish tradition, Abraham personifies acts of kindness. And Isaac? He represents Divine service. Things like prayer.  Introspection.  Spirituality. You might think of Isaac as a very big Tzadik.  An extremely righteous man. A “holy man.” And sometimes we have a picture of such people. […]

Hi, Hope you’re having a great day! We’ve seen that in Jewish tradition, Abraham personifies acts of kindness. And Isaac? He represents Divine service. Things like prayer. Introspection. Spirituality. You might think of Isaac as a very big Tzadik. An extremely righteous man. A “holy man.” And sometimes we have a picture of such people. […]

Hope you’re having a great day. As we saw yesterday, G-d created Eve.  And we had our first couple. But G-d didn’t just create Eve. He brought her to Adam! (2:22) And it’s not like they wouldn’t have found each other. There weren’t a whole lot of eligible singles around! It’s a very powerful image. […]

Hope you’re having a great day! Here’s a little quiz. What’s the first thing G-d says to Adam, the first human being? And no peeking! Many people would say, “I know that one!” “Don’t eat the apple.”  (Actually, since Jewish tradition does not identify the forbidden fruit as an apple, we should probably say that […]