Judaism

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO – Although midrash at times attempts to solve textual problems, at other times midrash seems an illogical flight of fantasy that creates more problems than it solves. Such is the rabbinic comment about Pharaoh’s daughter pulling Moses from the Nile River. The Torah says: “The daughter of Pharaoh came

 By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — Can you sleep at night? There is so much trouble in the world. Violence, wars large and small, natural disasters, disease. We all personally know many who are suffering at this very moment. Some are friends and acquaintances living in plain sight. Others are individuals in the

By Rabbi Ben Kamin JERUSALEM—It’s different each time, the sensation driven by my religious body temperature at the moment, each occasion leavened by the vicissitudes of life, by doubt, skepticism, spiritual immobility or vague rhapsody—and certainly by my own vanities. One first has to get past the sense of being an intruder, even if one

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Yaakov gathered his sons around and asked them if they would be true bearers of the faith. His son’s answered in unison, “ShmaYisroel Hashem E-lo-keinu Hashem Echad.” “Here, O Israel, The L-rd our G-d, Hashem, the One and Only.” (Yaakov was alsoknown as Israel).  This moved Yaakov and he

By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK –It was the last session of the course in which I was utilizing the book of Genesis as a text for the study of leadership. Since it was the final session, I decided that I would structure the discussion in a very different manner. I began by reminding

By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California —  “What are you doing for Christmas?” people ask one another, naturally, often affectionately. (Let me quickly remonstrate that I not one of those Jews who is either offended by this kind question or by someone greeting or saying good-bye to me with the expression, “Merry Christmas!” Such an

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman  SAN DIEGO — Yosef and all his brothers had a lot of conflict, but in the end, they were a family and truly loved one another, in addition to sharing a  tremendous reverence for their father. Overcoming family friction and honoring parents makes everyone’s life better and richer as the  following

 By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Starting with Abraham’s expulsion of Ishmael, the Torah’s patriarchal stories reflect a multi-generational family in distress. Each generation transmits its dysfunction to the next, where it continues to do damage before propagating forward. Abraham expelled his son, Ishmael, in favor of Isaac, only to end up traumatizing him

By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — I remember secretly praying, when I was a lad of ten years, for Santa Claus to mistake our home for a Christian household and slide down our chimney with presents. It was a serious and plaintive devotion; my good Catholic neighbors were going to have the reindeer adventure