From the Rabbi's Desk

Some of the most iconic and meaningful words in Jewish history and philosophy are found in this week’s portion, משפטים/Mishpatim: נעשה ונשמע/We will do and we will hear/understand. In order to better understand these words, allow me a moment of Hebrew education. As I’ve said in the past, the Hebrew language is based on a system of roots called שרשים and those roots are typically three letters. For our purposes, we need...Read more...

Rashi was an 11th century Rabbi who is probably the greatest commentator to ever exist in our people. His commentary to the Torah and the Talmud is so indispensable that when the first Hebrew Bibles were published to the masses, following the invention of the printing press, they created a special font just for him so his comments wouldn’t be mistaken for the printed text of the Bible. That script is now referred...Read more...

History matters. It’s essential that each of us is aware of how we came to be where we are and why. It’s of the greatest importance we each know our past and the pasts of others. Without knowing the past, we’re destined to fail time and again in the future and would be unable to move forward in a positive way. Quite often the news feels like the twilight zone as we watch in horror as we relive episodes that we already endured in the...Read more...