We all love getting those cute three-minute video clips during the day that give us a laugh or a smile. Recently, someone sent me a clip that got me thinking. In it, a fellow gives his two sons a … more

I was in a total fog during my first year in high school. I am convinced that my experience then was not unique. I entered a strange school, much larger than the one I had attended previously, … more

There have been times when one passage in this week’s parsha, Behaaloscha, was, for me, little less than lifesaving. No leadership position is easy. Leading Jews is harder still. And … more

Bamidbar is usually read on the Shabbat before Shavuot. Shavuot is the time of the giving of the Torah; “bamidbar” means “in the desert.” What is the connection between … more

Years ago, after a very difficult month in Lebanon, someone higher up decided our unit needed a break. Every unit maintains a daily events log (yoman iruim). Every patrol, ambush, search and seize, … more

We were exhausted, burned out. We felt that we needed a break. There were just two of us: me and my study partner, Yisrael. We were both not quite twenty years old, students in the post high … more

The Torah gives three examples of “Your brother becoming impoverished.” (V’khi yamukh achikha). The first has to do with selling family property, and how it returns to the … more

Sefer Vayikra is the only book in Tanach where we find the expression, v’yarata m’elokecha (“and you shall have awe for your G-d”). It appears three times in Parashat … more

It is an old word, and it describes a behavior that has been around since the beginning of history. Yet the word seems to me to be used more and more frequently these days, and the behavior it … more

I argued in my “Covenant and Conversation” for parshat Kedoshim that Judaism is more than an ethnicity. It is a call to holiness. In one sense, however, there is an important ethnic … more