We Were Told to Count to 50!

We were told to count to 50, yet every year we count to 49, and let G-d count the 50th day for us? But that’s not what we were told to do. As an adjunct to our last Article on the splitting of the Torah at Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 1 into the precise Phi...

The Chosen Ones! Who Me?

We are the Chosen Ones. What does it mean to be chosen? My wife wasn’t feeling well the other day and when I left to drop my son off at a play date, I told my daughter she was in charge while I was gone. She immediately said, “Then I’m the boss,” so I explained to her...

The Journeys of our Lives

These are the journey(s) of our lives. In the Torah portion Masei, we encounter the list of the 42 journeys the Israelites took during their 40 years in the desert including exiting the exile in Egypt at Pi-Haratha to entering the Promised Land. The tzaddikim,...

Ezekiel's First Vision; How Explosive!

I have a special fondness for the Baal Shem Tov and all the stories about him, so this past Shabbat as I read yet another of them I realized the he too, as a youth, along with his teacher had tried to bring the revelation of Moshiach (the Messiah) before his time. His...