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Understanding

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  Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev once challenged G-d, “Master of the Universe, You have placed all the earthly temptations before our eyes, while the spiritual pleasures and rewards for following Your will are relegated to the books we study. That is quite unfair! Why not reverse things and fill our senses with an appreciation and understanding of spirituality, and leave all material benefits and pleasures to the library shelves. See, then, how few people will sin!” What does “understanding” mean? There’s an English expression “to grasp an idea”.  Just like you can grasp or hold a ball, feeling it and controlling it from every side, your brain can understand , hold and feel an “idea” in the same way. As people, we can understand things we like to eat, do and figure out how to get more of them (this is instinctual and survival stuff). We can also understand nature (biology and physics), the engineering of machines, and different skills. We can also understand people (like I wrote la
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What is the Purpose of Marriage?

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Mazal tov Miriam and Jason! My sister, Miriam just got married to Jason Bernstein this past Monday! The wedding was beautiful and Natanya and I wish you a beautiful life together! This week's email is dedicated in honor of the bride and groom, and the topic will be “the purpose of marriage.” So what is the purpose of marriage? Some people might say it’s to suffer. Some people might say to enjoy life together. Some people might say it’s “to not be lonely”. Some people might say to have children. Or maybe to be partners in life, have financial stability or emotional support. There may be some truth in some of those answers but I don’t think any of them capture the essence of marriage. The purpose of marriage is for husband and wife to become one . Let’s have a look at the beginning of the Torah.  On the sixth day of creation, after speaking all the land animals into existence, G-d took some earth, formed it into a body, and then blew a soul into it. G-d called him Adam because he wa
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Idaho Murders- Significance & Why. What got into the killer?

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We’re being led to believe that the world is falling apart and that things are getting worse and worse by the day. There may be some truth to this notion, but it’s mostly false. For a full month, the Idaho murder story has dominated headlines, and this story demonstrates my point. It perked my interest and I started reading up on serial killers, and noticed an interesting trend. They all seem to have been from the 70’s. The fact that a PhD in criminology, who had no crime history, was tracked down in a month is testament to how far DNA and detective work has come. The infamous serial killers went on for decades and killed many, many times before being caught. Of course, it’s important to remind ourselves that this individual in Idaho hasn’t been convicted, and we should let the court work through it’s course.  But the point is true nonetheless. Why aren’t there any serial killers of the 2020’s if the world is getting worse and worse by the day? Because would-be serial killers are getti
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Should We Move To Texas?

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  I took a trip to Washington D.C. to visit my step-uncle and aunt and comfort them for the  loss of their daughters . Torah teaches that visiting mourners, especially in their home, is comforting to the mourners  and to the deceased. Indeed, the process of death is painful not only to the family of the deceased, but to the deceased themselves. The ability to do productive work, help people and do mitzvahs is only possible while alive in this physical world, and this is why death is painful (unlike what most people think, that death is the end of pain). We mourn  with  the dead over the lost opportunities to give light to the world. On the way back, I stopped in Dallas, TX for a day. It made $$ sense and gave me the opportunity to visit a couple good friends and supporters who have moved there. Here are some observations and reflections from the visit: Texas was very different than I expected. I wasn’t expecting the toll roads and traffic. Instead of Ford and Chevy pickup trucks, I was
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Mistake

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I made a mistake. A local friend asked me if I could pull together a minyan so he could say Kaddish for his father. I told him I’d try. So I sent out an SMS message from our database to a few dozen people I thought might like to help this nice fellow by joining a minyan. One of the recipients felt my tone was too technical and not heartfelt enough and responded with some healthy rebuke. It was painful. But I’ve learned how to go through these painful rebukes a few times in my life. Here is a line from the Rebbe’s calendar: “ My father wrote in a letter: Cherish criticism, for it will place you on the true heights. “ I’ve heard that they’re called blind spots. Like when you’re driving. And a car is right beside you, but you just can’t see it. The only way to find it is by turning your head. I was created with character flaws (and maybe someone else reading this email was too). And the worst part about these flaws, Is that sometimes I’m completely oblivious to them! I might write somethi
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Could the world be worse?

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Could G-d have made the world worse than He did? It’s pretty bad as is. Genocides, animal suffering, political polarization and hatred. Are enough to make some people question G-d’s existence. Whether there is logical proof for G-d can be debated back and forth. It’s not a slam dunk either way. It’s kind of like G-d created this world as a game. And we’re the players in it. The game (life) has rules. And limitations. What’s the point of it all? I was taught that the point of the game is to find G-d. And transform this dark world he created. Into a place of light (Moshiach). And, Yes, it could have been worse. This world has a lot of darkness. But the game also has periodic  miracles . Like G-d peeking His head out to tell us He’s here. I know you know what I mean. I’ve experienced them. And you have too. Things that don’t make sense. Some come through righteous leaders (like the story of  why I wasn’t aborted ) Some major ones happened thousands of years ago (like the Exodus and splitt
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Why do we need a Rebbe?

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  The anniversary of the Rebbe’s passing is a big deal. Natanya & I work for the Rebbe. But it’s more than that. Much more. Even before we became his Shluchim (agents), We were Chassidim of the Rebbe (“followers” for lack of a better word) But it’s much more than that too. A Rebbe isn’t just another Rabbi. A Rebbe is the “Moses of the generation”. So that means Moses was the first Rebbe. And every single generation since has had a Rebbe. We know that Mordechai was the “Moses of his generation” (Zohar). I think the Rambam was the Moses of his generation (look up his epitaph). So, who was Moses? Clearly he was pretty important. He is mentioned in every single Torah portion after his birth.* He was a leader. And a prophet. And a redeemer. But that’s not what made him “Moses”. Moses was the “ head  of the Jewish people” And the Jewish people were his feet. What is a “head”? The body has many individual parts. But the head  feels  all of them. And  controls  all of them. Without the hea
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