Jewish Religion

By Rabbi Ben Kamin ENCINITAS, California — Hanukkah, the little holiday that could, begins with the lighting of the first candle against the darkness tonight. Year after year, the assessments begin and the questions accumulate: Is Hanukkah the Jewish Christmas?  Which one came first and how are they related?  (Of course, the real inquiry every […]

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — I visited one of our younger Torah School classrooms on Wednesday. They were learning about the Luchot Ha-Brit, the Tablets of the Covenant, i.e., the Ten Commandments. One of the students asked me, “What is adultery?” Before I could answer the teacher explained, “I tell them that it

By  Rabbi Baruch Lederman 1. This year, the first night of Chanukah is Saturday December 8, 2012, at which time we will light one Chanukah light plus the shamash. The second night we light 2 lights plus a shamash. The third night we light 3 lights plus a shamash, and so on and so forth. 2.

By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb                                                                                                          NEW YORK — The class devoted to the study of leadership, using the book of Genesis as a text, was proceeding well. On this, the ninth session, it reached a new depth. It did so by paying careful attention to the subtleties of the Hebrew language.   Hillel, from his

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — My grandmother had a deep-seated distrust of non-Jews. Given her childhood, this was understandable. My grandmother grew up in Russia during a time of turmoil, ferment, and rabid anti-Semitism. She told me of the pogroms she and her family survived, and of the Cossacks beating her younger brother.

By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –Yaakov dwelt for years with the wicked Lavan. Nevertheless, he did not diminish his stringent mitzvah observance (vis. Rashi: Im Lavan garti, v;taryag mitzvos shamarti). A mitzvah is a precious gift for us to cherish always, wherever we are, whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, as the following true story

By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — In the midst of the battle between Israel and Hamas, I read a provocative article by Rabbi Daniel Gordis on “The Times of Israel” website (if you would like to read the original article, click here). Rabbi Gordis, who lives in Israel and is Senior Vice President and

By  Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO– In 1991, our three month old son Shlomo Moshe Lederman returned his soul to his creator. While we were sitting shiva, a number of  people offered words of consolation. I found  these words very inspiring. I wrote them down in a notebook (not a laptop, an actual paper notebook)

 By Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb NEW YORK — Up until this point, the seventh session of the class using the book of Genesis to explore the concept of leadership, my role as teacher was a very easy one. The students not only participated eagerly, but vied for opportunities to speak. Moreover, they invariably had a