Straphangers Living in Monsey, New York, and not working in New York City, I don’t really have occasion to ride the bus very often. When I was visiting Israel, I […]
Judaism 101
A Mitzvah is Like a Candle This week’s Torah reading mentions the lighting of the menorah, the special golden candelabra which was placed in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and later in […]
A House Large Enough For God? In this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Terumah, God instructs the Jews to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), a place of worship upon which God will […]
Charity – A Kindness for Yourself In this week’s Torah reading, the verse says (22:24), “When you lend money to a poor person with you, you should not pressure him […]
Fear at Sinai This week’s Torah reading, Parshat Yisro, depicts the awesome event of the Jews receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai. It was a frightening experience, with a lot […]
“How Could I forget her birthday?!” Someone confided in me that she’d forgotten a friend’s birthday. The friend was very upset. I couldn’t relate, because I’m a guy, and I […]
A Smoking Cigarette You’ve probably noticed that my titles are often known phrases or plays on words. Part of it is to pique your interest, and part of it is […]
Why Are You Praying? In this week’s Torah reading, the Jews were running away from the Egyptians who were pursuing them. But then, they reached a point where they were […]
In this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Bo, Moshe (Moses) warned Pharaoh that at midnight, Egypt will be inflicted with a plague, with which all the first-borns will be killed, for […]
The Ten Plagues – Measure for Measure This week’s Torah reading describes the first seven plagues the Egyptians suffered for refusing to allow the Jews to leave the land. Besides […]
