Parasha
Parashat Shmini: Guarding a pure heart
The Hebrew word timtum means “blockage” or “dullness.” Forbidden foods can lead to this blockage – to emotional numbness and a diminished ability to perceive spiritual depth.
Parashat Tzav: True freedom begins in the mind, not in physical circumstance
Shabbat Hachodesh: A time to cleanse and begin again
Parashat Zachor: Remembering Amalek in every generation
Parashat Shelach: Seeing giants, choosing hope
The 10 spies teach us what happens when fear rules the heart. The ma’apilim teach us of the danger of forcing reality to revive an old fantasy.
Parashat Shelach: Believe in yourselves
The Torah recounts the argument that erupted between the 10 pessimistic spies and Joshua and Caleb, the two optimistic ones.
Parashat Beha’alotcha: The call of humility
We are all entitled to even the strongest of our beliefs and opinions. And yet, we should never be so sure of what we think that we are not open to a different voice, a different opinion.
Parashat Beha’alotcha: Yes to speaking up, no to hurting!
Speak up! Share your opinion! Try to bring about change – but not through gossip and not with hurtful words.
“Whoever Has One Hundred Desires Two Hundred”: Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto on the Endless Cycle of Desire
Parshat Naso: Rich people’s problems
When you live a life filled with meaning, spiritual fulfillment ... you receive a remarkable gift: a profound inner peace and emotional serenity that no material wealth can offer.
Parashat Bamidbar: ‘Each man by his banner’
The many hardships endured by the Israelites during their desert journey could have been greatly reduced had the nation learned to appreciate what they had.
Parashat Behar-Bechukotai: Live and let live
The only halachic ruling that was ever given is that “your life comes first” – and nothing beyond that.
Home at last: Two sons, two soldiers, one homeland - opinion
The very different circumstances under which two Israeli soldiers were returned puts things in perspective and echoes Jewish values.
Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim: ‘Holiness,’ ‘abstinence,’ and what lies between
Don’t aim for lofty, angelic separation “like Mine” but live a human holiness – the kind of life for which I created the world.
