Parasha Insights

I remember my first roller coaster ride as though it were yesterday. I was seven years old at Six Flags Great Adventure, on a ride called “the American Scream Machine.” I was there with my bunk from Camp Gan Israel. My heart was pounding as the coaster slowly started its climb to the top. When it hit the top, there was a momentary pause; the sun beat down on us as we waited. Suddenly, the cars jerked into motion while rapidly gaining speed. We were hovering over a long, steep drop above a lake. I gripped the shoulder harness as we plunged into a free-fall, and all I heard was terrible screaming. I feared the cars would jolt off the tracks. But instead of screaming incoherently, I gathered all my powers of belief and shouted a co… Read More »

I remember my first roller coaster ride as though it were yesterday. I was seven years old at Six Flags Great Adventure, on a ride called “the American Scream Machine.” I was there with my bunk from Camp Gan Israel. My heart was pounding as the coaster slowly started its climb to the top. When it hit the top, there was a momentary pause; the sun beat down on us as we waited. Suddenly, the cars jerked into motion while rapidly gaining speed. We were hovering over a long, steep drop above a lake. I gripped the shoulder harness as we plunged into a free-fall, and all I heard was terrible screaming. I feared the cars would jolt off the tracks. But instead of screaming incoherently, I gathered all my powers of belief and shouted a co… Read More »

One of the influential halachic figures in Judaism was a man known as Rabbainu Tam. His story is fascinating.

In 1095 began the First Crusade of Christians began, marching toward the Holy Land to conquer Jerusalem from the Muslims. En route, during May and June of 1096, the mob slaughtered entire Jewish communities in Germany and France, in what was one of the most horrific events in Jewish history of the Middle Ages.

The situation of the Jewish People in France and Western Europe from the time of the First Crusade in 1096 rapidly deteriorated. The persecution of Jews through the Catholic Church was horrendous, and the demands that Jews convert were never-ending.

The greatest Jewish sage in France at the time was Rabbi Shlomo Y… Read More »

Today, Friday, known in Hebrew as Lag BaOmer, the thirty-third day of the omer, is the anniversary of the passing of one of the greatest sages and spiritual giants in Jewish history, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

Rabbi Shimon, who lived in Israel under Roman occupation around 165 CE (approximately one hundred years after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE), was an extraordinary scholar, leader, sage, and mystic. He was the author of the Zohar, the most basic work of Kabbalah, revealing to the world the underlying theology of Judaism, its inner soul and energy, and initiating a new era in the development and exposure of Jewish mysticism. The most significant revelation came about on the day of Rabbi Shimon's passing, on which he expou… Read More »

Izzy owned a small deli in Stamford Hill, in London. One day, a tax inspector knocked on his door and questioned him about his recent tax return. Issy had reported a net profit of $250.000 for the year, and he wanted to know all about it. "It’s like this," said Issy. "I work like a maniac all year round, and all my family helps me out whenever they can. My deli is closed only five days a year. That’s how I made $250,000."  

"It's not your income that bothers us," said the taxman. "It's the business travel deductions of $80,000 that worry us. You entered on the tax return that you and your wife made 28 business trips to Israel, Italy, Switzerla… Read More »

Izzy owned a small deli in Stamford Hill, in London. One day, a tax inspector knocked on his door and questioned him about his recent tax return. Issy had reported a net profit of $250.000 for the year, and he wanted to know all about it. "It’s like this," said Issy. "I work like a maniac all year round, and all my family helps me out whenever they can. My deli is closed only five days a year. That’s how I made $250,000."  

"It's not your income that bothers us," said the taxman. "It's the business travel deductions of $80,000 that worry us. You entered on the tax return that you and your wife made 28 business trips to Israel, Italy, Switzerla… Read More »