Parshah Columnists

What does the word totafot actually mean?

The 10 Commandments had no echo. What was the point of this miracle?

They entered me like tiny pieces of a puzzle that found the space, or impression, that was carved exactly to fit their dimensions. Then they would snap together, forming sentences and paragraphs and concepts...

How often are we left unmoved by a truth because we are self-consciously aware of the ramifications of accepting such truths?

If G‑d was trying to give His best credentials to His newly acquired nation, why would He choose to mention the exodus? Isn't the creation of the heavens and earth a far greater feat?

When G-d does make demands of me, they tend to be in trivial areas—but areas that hit me where it counts.

While we hope that someone, somewhere, takes notice whenever we “do the right thing,” as long as we are driven by the need for that external recognition, we are vulnerable and can be inconsistent.

The two enlarged letters in the Shema reveal the mission of the Jewish people and the fusion of faith and knowledge.

Anxious Parshah

Two spouses don’t seem to be able to relate to each other. Their values differ considerably; they don’t see the world the same way. Is their relationship doomed to failure? Is there anything they can do to strengthen the bond and enhance their closeness?

G‑d is the one truth that pervades all existence and we, in turn, must create that oneness within our hearts.

Revolutions may come and go but revelation is eternal

In the Pidyon HaBen ceremony one finds a very strange dialogue between the father and the Kohen. "Which do you prefer," asks the Kohen, "your first born son, or the five silver shekels?"

"When G-d gave the Torah," our Sages write, "He opened the seven firmaments for the Jewish people. Just as He tore open the upper realms, so He tore the lower realms. They saw that G-d is the ultimate reality." What does this mean? Obviously, some kind of spiritual revelation. But what was it that they saw? what are the "upper realms" and the "lower realms" which g-d "tore open" for us?

What does it mean to "lengthen" the echad ("one") of the Shema?

To be an idealist you cannot consider the resistance that you may encounter while implementing your dreams. Pure idealism follows the dictates of truth alone. On the other hand, without realistic thinking my dreams would stay in the world of fantasy...

There are times when your love for another is so strong that it supersedes even your greatest dreams and aspirations.

What is it about the Shema Yisroel prayer that has inspired so many through the most trying of times and has provided such meaning and purpose to help us survive even the most despairing circumstances?

Some called him Reverend Abrahamson. Others called him Cantor. My father called him Chazzan and bristled at the other names...

Just as education is meant to last a lifetime, the methods used to educate children should also remain with them for the duration of their adulthood.

Why is a transcendent feeling like love so contingent on actions? While the question may sound profoundly philosophical, the answer is quite simple . . .

“Who took you out of Egypt”? Talk about sweating the small details! What about “who created heaven and earth”? Surely stage-managing the Exodus doesn’t even approach His role as designer and creator of the universe!

The awesome sounds of G‑d resonated throughout the universe... but there was no echo. The greatest sound and light show in history was a strictly one-time production with no residuals or encore.

Where are you closer to G‑d: on a serene mountaintop surrounded by the beauty of nature, or on a loud, dirty street corner in the middle of an inner city?

Therapists are nice (and expensive) and there are times when they are needed. But there are the times when all we need is someone who knows us, who cares for us, a wise person with a little life experience...

Are the two accounts reconcilable without psychologizing the moment? Is this simply the case of Moses, perhaps the greatest man in the history of the world, becoming vulnerable when his mortality is upon him?

Reading the Bible, one is struck by the fact that its most monumental event, the transmission of the Ten Commandments, turn up twice. If the event happened once, why tell it twice?

Home in the womb, on the road of life, lying down in the grave, and waking up in the world to come . . .

What's the difference between No-thingness with a capital N and vanilla nothing with a lower case n? What makes one Nothing G-d and the other just nothing?

So I don't exist. Or I don't exist and do exist at the same time. So what? I still have to get up in the morning, I still have to deal with my credit card balance, my mother-in-law, and this guy whose elbow is crushing my ribs on this crowded subway car. It might make interesting reading, but in the final analysis, what difference does it make?

When you’re feeling sad, do you go to your father or to your mother? Is it transcendence that you seek, or the solacing embrace that assures us that nothing is meaningless, that everything we are and feel can be borne, inhabited and redeemed?

To believe that the world is something separate, an entity unto itself, would be to accept that G‑d is not really everything. This would assume that He is one thing and that the world is another thing.

Rituals are the framework that keeps love alive.

Law is about universals, principles that apply in all places and times. Don’t murder. Don’t rob. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Yet there are important features of the moral life that are not universal at all.