Essays

The yetzer hara is an instinctive impulse for self-gratification (bad), embodied by the emotional responses of the beast within you.

If G‑d is everywhere, why can’t He also be in your cottage cheese?

When you use technology without a purpose, you are no longer its master. You are its slave. From limestone to LLM, the truth is the same.

We’re human beings. How can the Torah expect you to not hold a grudge against someone who has hurt you?

The Zohar is the foundational text of the Kabbalah. Written in Aramaic, it cites the teachings of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and others.

The G‑dy soul has a secret weapon.

Kabbalah is the ancient Jewish mystical tradition that provides insight into the essence of G‑d, His relationship with the world, and how the Torah and its mitzvahs deepen that connection.

Two cows, they were, sharing a paddock on the same farm . . .

Imagine, a couple gets married, and the man says to his new wife, “Would you make me something to eat, please? I’ll be right back.” She begins preparing. The guy comes back 3300 years later, walks into the house, up to the table, straight to his favorite chair, sits down and tastes the soup that is on the table. The soup is cold.

Fiddler on the Roof’s enormous popularity has nothing to do with metaphysical content. Nonetheless, we find one of the most enigmatic issues in religious thought expressed by Tevye the milkman . . .

Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the essence of Jewish mysticism

Once upon a time, time was round. Then somehow we straightened it out, put an arrow on the end and took it for a ride. Now let me tell you how it happened . . .

Imagine asking a Jew, “Did you ever eat on Yom Kippur?” and he answers, “I felt hungry in my stomach.”

When G-d created Adam, at the moment Adam opened his eyes, what was his psychological profile? He had no Oedipus complex because he had no mother. He didn't have a birth trauma, because he wasn't born. He had no sibling rivalry... What was this man like?

Actually there are two hearts: the outer heart, forever chasing whatever looks good to it and barking at whatever looks like a threat; and an inner heart, where the fire of the soul burns in serene simplicity

We all yearn for the intimate touch of another soul. So why are we forever repelling love with our anger and criticism?

Parallel universes, supernatural phenomena, and a world where good always prevails. Is this Grimm's fairy tales, or a chassidic text?

Some things are so very astounding that the casually passing mind refuses to notice the wonder.

Are you really happy, or just resigned to your lot? I'd love to meet the person who'd honestly say, "My fantasy life? I'm living it! I can't imagine a thing I'd want to change!"

The Torah’s account of the petition presented to Moses by the daughters of Tzelafchad is relevant both to women seeking halachic support for change, and to the rabbis who are ruling on their questions.

The physical realm as the "shadow" of the spiritual; the mitzvot as physical "symbols" that manipulate spiritual realities; matter as thye most compact form of energy; prayer as the language of the soul and the minyan as the "critical mass" that unleashes its power

First the elephant's trunk is threaded through the eyelet, then his head, followed by his entire huge body. Imagine dreaming such a dream!

If life is full of meaning, why am I spending it hustling other people for their money?

G-d creates from "Nothing" because nothingness, ayin, actually means absolute, infinite possibility. And as a beings created in the image of G-d, we, too, can create "something from nothing"

"Leave your land, your birthplace and your father's house, and go to the land I will show you." These words are among the most consequential in the history of mankind

Are you you smart, stupid, graceful, clumsy, bold, wimpy, articulate, shy? Whatever your answers, they will limit and define you as certainly as if they were a cage made out of concrete and steel

Doing good without believing in reward is the flip side of doing good only for reward. In the one case, good is constrained to the metaphysical; in the other, it is limited to a crass physical expression . . .

Ever wondered where that instant inspiration comes from? Where does that spontaneous urge of faith stem from? What truly is the essence of our soul?

To serve or not to serve is not the question, and it is not the choice. Every character serves the author. The choice is only about how you serve--directly, playing the good guy, or indirectly, playing the villain

I often speak of the Torah as a unifying document with an all-encompassing and harmonizing perspective on reality. There seems much that contradicts this in the Torah. So does the Torah indeed advocate separateness as a value?

Everything has its place in the plan of creation, and it is “good.” It becomes “very good” when all the parts are working in unison.

Teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah commonly translate as "repentance," "prayer" and "charity." But these English words fail to express the full significance of these concepts, and even convey the very opposite of their true import

This is what compassion does: it simply comes to say hello, with kindness and grace; to be a companion in whatever circumstance presents itself; to banish loneliness, and if not, to accompany the lonely in their solitude

We really should not have to die at all, despite Adam's sin. And G-d, so to speak, is sensitive to this. It "embarrasses" Him...

When opening the door for Elijah, the children gather round to watch the quivering liquid ripple, hoping to detect some sign of its sampling by the visiting prophet. But surely there's more meaning to this cup than a child's imagination

Why does an all-knowing G-d need to test anybody? Shouldn't He know what is in our hearts? And why is Abraham's test of faith "the entire glory of Israel and their merit before their Father in Heaven"?

He was a world-famous figure, I was an anonymous student from 3000 miles away. Quickly it became clear to me that he believed in me more than I believed in myself

That common but feeble excuse, "I couldn't help myself," is not acceptable to anyone sensitive to the message of the tefillin

Miracles are a concession to the human need to see things from a different perspective in order to apprehend what they've already seen. Shavuot is when G-d believes in us enough not to indulge it

It is irrational to believe that an elephant can fit itself through the eye of a needle. But what about the One who brought elephant, needle, size, space and logic itself into existence?

"It is not good," said G-d of the first and only human being, "for man to be alone." As long as man was alone, he could not really be good

These two protocols are now at war, with western civilization (human rights) on one side, and the world of Islam (subjugation of the individual to the supreme will of Allah) on the other. Where does Judaism stand?

The single wicks of the Shabbat candles, exuding calmness, repose and homeliness; the braided torch accompanying the departing queen, lighting the darkness that becomes more marked in her absence...