Rabbi’s Blog

With anxiety, depression and a whole host of mental health challenges plaguing so many, any helpful tool is worth sharing. But is crying a helpful tool? Does expressing pent-up emotions have value? In today’s share-it-all culture, one might wonder if we have gone too...

In Hebrew, it’s called Bamidbar (“In the Desert”) and also Sefer HaPekudim (“The Book of the Countings”); in the English-speaking world, this is the biblical section known as “Numbers.” And yes, there are many, many numbers in the fourth of...

Pesach is behind us, and Shavuot is right in front of us. Now, we find ourselves in the intermediate period that we call Sefirat Ha’Omer—counting the Omer. It is a 49-day cleansing period in which we prepare ourselves by refining different elements of our character,...

One of my favorite lines is, "as a Chabad Rabbi, my job is to make the uncomfortable, comfortable, and to make the comfortable, uncomfortable". See what I mean below. The secret to personal growth is dealing with the dead. No, that wasn't a typo, indulge me for a...

You shall not etch a tattoo on yourselves. I am the L-rd. Leviticus 19:28 Q: I have a tattoo, can I be buried in a Jewish cemetery? A: In years past, some burial societies had their own covenants (not required by Jewish law) that they wouldn’t bury tattooed...

WOW! The holiday marathon is behind us. While there were certainly limitations on work, food etc., I hope that it was for you, as it was for us, wonderful and beautiful family time and celebration. The post Passover greeting is "א געזונטע זומער" a healthy summer....

Imagine; showing up to a wedding and leaving before the actual ceremony, arriving at a concert, enjoying the opener but leaving before the headliner, or enjoying the buffet and leaving before the main presentation. G-d is in the details. Passover is celebrated on the...

One of the favorite moments for many at the Seder is the hiding of the Afikomen, and the children finding, holding it ransom until a proper prize is given in exchange for this “dessert” without which the Seder cannot end.What in fact makes this Afikomen so important,...

The Torah reading of Pekudei (Exodus 38:21–40:38) opens with an accounting of the various materials donated by the people of Israel for the making of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary which “housed” the Divine Presence in...

"Quoted by Rabbi Shlomo Schwartz AKA Schwartzie" One can look at the tasks required to raise healthy, independent children (cleaning, cooking, diaper changing and bed making etc.) as chores, as things I have to do. Alternatively, one can look at them as something to...