By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — When one takes a gaze at the Jewish horizon, one gets the distinct impression that many synagogues find themselves confronted by a spiritual problem they can scarcely understand—much less articulate: Irrelevance. Judaism may someday die—not by genocides—but by apathy. Yes, as rabbis we love to sermonize [...]
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK –It is an old word, and it describes a behavior that has been around since the very beginning of history. Yet the word seems to me to be used more and more frequently these days, and the behavior it describes has gotten out of control. The word [...]
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — Although many of his adherents deny it, he definitely had an anti-Semitic streak and was at least, for a time, sympathetic to the Nazi cause. Yet he was one of the major psychological theorists of the 20th century, and I personally have found his insights into the [...]
Society and Self: On the Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, by Gerald J.(Ya’akov) Blidstein. OU Press, 2012, 155 pages, ISBN-10: 1602802041, U.S. cover price: $25.00 By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Gerald J. Blidstein’s Society and Self: On the Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik is an excellent introduction to the [...]
By J. Zel Lurie DELRAY BEACH, Florida –Jews come in many shapes and colors. One of the strangest is the Karaites, founded in the 7th century by a charismatic Jew named Anan Ben David. He totally rejected the holiness of the Talmud and strictly obeyed only the 613 mitzvot found in the Torah. The Karaite [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –As we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Passover and give thought to the meaning of freedom. The Passover Hagadah brings us to an important realization: We are not merely the products of the present. In the words of the Hagadah, “And had the Holy Blessed One [...]
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK– ”There is no such thing as privacy anymore.” “There are no secrets anymore.” These are two complaints that are heard frequently nowadays. We live in a world of cell phones and e-mails, blogs, Facebook and Twitter. We have no privacy, for almost anyone can reach us wherever we are, whatever [...]
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — We were walking down the long airport corridor on the way to the boarding gate. Somehow, it seems that whenever my wife and I have a flight to catch, anywhere, our gate is always at the farthest end of the long hall. We had plenty of time [...]
By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — She was a Hindu princess. She was one of the brightest students in my graduate school class. We studied psychology, and she went on to return to her country and become a psychotherapist of world renown. For our purposes, I shall refer to her as Streena. We [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California – Stories about the Wise Men of Chelm convey profound wisdom about the human condition, told through the medium of irony, sarcasm and dark humor. Here is one of my favorite stories. In the town of Chelm, two Rabbis were once seen arguing late into the night about [...]
