By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Does the end ever justify the means? Not according to the Torah. One may not fulfill a religious obligation (a mitzvah) through unethical or immoral action. Our sages called this a mitzvah ha-ba’ah ba-aveirah, a mitzvah that is performed through a sinful act. One of the places our […]
Mitzvot must be fulfilled through honest, ethical action Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Fifteen years ago there was a family from New York who lost their father. Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel ztl, Rosh Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim, had a particularly fond relationship with the deceased father and took it upon himself to ensure that his orphans would have a fatherly figure
The rabbi’s second family Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Ben Kamin TEL AVIV—They were two anonymous young people born in the British mandate of Palestine about twenty years before the British quit and the UN unsuccessfully partitioned the territory into two projected states. They were among just several thousand faceless heroes that created the State of Israel and miraculously fought a regional
A wandering son of Israel returns to its earth Read More »
Jewish Religion
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — In his classical work on masculine spirituality, Iron John, Robert Bly notes how our contemporary society no longer provides the necessary rituals to help reintegrate warriors after a war. Unlike the ancient societies, which presented a series of complex rituals to help their soldiers make a
Kandahar massacre illustrates how war can tarnish a soul Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –For the past 2000 years, enemies of the Jews have often portrayed the Jews as leeches and vampires. Some people think Bram Stoker’s gothic novel about the blood-thirsty demon bears an uncanny resemblance to the pale-skinned Jew, who hates anything associated with the light of Christianity. Over
Metsitsa b’peh is a custom mohels should discard Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — One might wonder: Why did the Israelites worship a Golden Calf? Why does the Torah forbid the making of graven images in the Ten Commandments? For one thing, our ancestors believed graven images of a person or a god gave them power over deities and mortals
How Judaism and other religions regard idols Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — Parashat Ki Tissa contains the verses we love to sing every Friday night, V’shamru: “The Israelite people shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout the ages as a covenant for all time. It shall be a sign between Me and the people of Israel. For in six
Shabbat comes on U.S. Navy time, plus and minus Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — During the Holocaust years, Purim celebrations were forbidden to the Jews. Christians and Jews could not even own the book of Esther. Such decrees did not stop the Nazis from poking fun at the Jews on this Jewish holiday. With diabolical glee, the Nazis frequently orchestrated
Some uncanny Purim coincidences Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-Rabbi
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
Why the Israelites turned to a Golden Calf Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Ben Kamin SAN DIEGO — There are the beloved Five Scrolls in the Hebrew Scripture, including Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Lamentations and two named for heroic women: Ruth and Esther. Ruth was the consummate loyalist, paradigmatic convert to Judaism—a maternal ancestor to the Davidic line. Christians link her spiritually to Jesus.
The woman who saved the Jews Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO — Purim is referred to as Kabbalas haTorah miahavah – acceptance of the Torah out of love. This is the yesod (foundation) of Purim – returning to Hashem (G-d) and fulfilling His Torah with love. The practices of Purim, such as Shalach Manos (Gifts of Food) and Matanos L’evyonim
Laws and lore of Purim Read More »
Jewish ReligionKosher Jesus by Shmuley Boteach; Gefen Publishing House; ISBN-10: 9652295787 ©2012, $26, 300 pages. By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California — Shmuley Boteach is a complicated man. At the risk of sounding obvious, Shmuley is not your typical Chabad rabbi. His past associations with singer Michael Jackson and his book on Kosher Sex
What Shmuley Boteach could have written in ‘Kosher Jesus’ Read More »
Jewish Religion, Michael Leo Samuel-RabbiBy Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal SAN DIEGO — On Wednesday evening, March 7, we begin the celebration of the holiday of Purim which commemorates the victory of the Jews over their enemies in ancient Persia. Once the hero of the story, Mordechai, finds out that Haman has received the king’s permission to kill the Jews, he
Parsha and Purim warn Jews to stay unified Read More »
Jewish ReligionBy Rabbi Baruch Lederman SAN DIEGO –A woman answered the front door to find a workman standing on the porch and carrying a box of tools. “I’m the piano tuner ma’am” he announced. “But I didn’t send for a piano tuner.” “I know, but the neighbors did!” Some people know the Torah. Some people know
Our inside feelings may seem quite different to outside observers Read More »
Jewish Religion