Fighting Hamans with Pride!

Fighting Hamans with Pride!

While being prudent and ensuring safety and security for our people and institutions is paramount, the hype and feeding of the frenzy is an upside down way of expressing our Jewishness.Let’s take a page out of Mordechai’s book. When Haman – may his name be erased –...
Money, Money, Money!

Money, Money, Money!

There are frugal people and there are spendthrifts. Irrelevant to how much money is in their bank account. In this week’s Torah portion, Hashem asks the people “to take for him an offering”. To donate to the building that will be a home for G-d.  Why is it hard...
Idealistic Boundaries 2023

Idealistic Boundaries 2023

Idealism is a blessing and also totally unrealistic. Oh, I don’t intend to throw the baby out with the bathwater. No, Idealism is what has brought change to the world.  Idealism has brought so much good to the world.  But it only works when it moves out of...
What-Is-Or-If-It-Is?

What-Is-Or-If-It-Is?

What do we know? We know what is. All of science explores what is and wants to know what else is.Who asks if it is? You know those people who dare to wonder out loud if the world is all an illusion? We think of them as crazy or shush them up.The world of Chabad...
Self Sacrifice in 2023

Self Sacrifice in 2023

I guess we first need to validate the self for there to be self sacrifice.  Well in 2023 there is no shortage of self validation.   So let’s move on to self sacrifice.  Why am I writing about self sacrifice?Because in this week’s portion the...
Revealed Concealment

Revealed Concealment

It’s catchy, “every revelation is a concealment, every concealment is a revelation”. And it’s also very deep.Like the loudest attention seeking person at the party, is hiding some deep insecurity.   And like the parent who doesn’t smother the child or give...

Q: What is the difference between ignorance and apathy? A: I don’t know and I don’t care – source unknownAnimals can be broken down into three groups: those that benefit mankind, those that harm mankind and those that seem irrelevant to mankind.The...
Pay the Piper

Pay the Piper

I know you’ve always wanted to know where this phrase came from. Well, thank you Reb Shmoogle. ” The phrase comes from the fable of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. According to the myth, a piper was hired to clear out the rats from the village of Hamelin. After he did so...
Knowing Your Place

Knowing Your Place

Would you hire a plumber to do your taxes? A lawyer to fix your leak? Of course not!  it is not an attack on either profession, it is simply a practical response to your need and how to best have the matter resolved. In life, you need plumbers and lawyers and...
Looking Deeper than the Surface

Looking Deeper than the Surface

In Parsha Vayigash, Joseph, the viceroy of Egypt, reveals himself to his brothers who had sold him into slavery twenty-two years earlier. Joseph understood that even though his brothers had acted badly, they were not the ultimate ones who brought him to Egypt. He knew...