As 2021 comes to a close, there’s a lot of talk about what a difficult year it’s been. And it has been a difficult year in a lot of ways. A year filled with pain, disappointment and loss. Yet there have been many positive things that have happened this year, both on an individual and […]
Turn away from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it. ס֣וּר מֵ֭רָע וַעֲשֵׂה־ט֑וֹב בַּקֵּ֖שׁ שָׁל֣וֹם וְרָדְפֵֽהוּ׃ I always understood the verse from Psalms in a simple way: remove yourself from bad behaviors, busy yourself with good ones, seek peace, and pursue it. It seems pretty straight forward. Recently, under the guise of our Tikun […]
For the past few months, I’ve been writing a weekly article for Jew in the City, celebrating amazing people who shine a positive light on Orthodox Judaism. But this week, I’m going to celebrate myself. I’m reflecting on a memory that surfaced strongly for me earlier this year, when I turned the big 5-0. Don’t […]
Do you also feel that the world is simply coming apart at the seams? That humanity is crash-landing into oblivion on the backs of emptiness, instant-gratification, confusion, craziness, anger, and hatred? I was reading something the other day that made me think. “Love,” writes Rav Kook, “must permeate our hearts through and through. A love […]
Watching the horror in that holy alley of death and hearing the harrowing details of how it happened – there is a glaring lesson for ME, and I’m sharing in case you relate to it too… There is no way we can understand and know why this tragedy happened – we have no nevuah – […]
As the Jewish world continues to mourn the calamitous events that occurred in Meron last Thursday night on Lag B’Omer, leaving 45 dead and hundreds wounded, there are a variety of responses pouring out – many of them healthy and comforting and some of them less healthy. We, as a people, are no strangers to […]
