Rabbi Abrams Blog

Do you exercise? Most of my exercise is walking. I usually walk around our long block a couple times a day. One round is our daily walk with the family after school, and I usually take a second or third round while I’m on the phone with people. A few weeks ago, I had hours and hours of phone calls. So I walked around the block. And beyond. I walked about twelve miles. That evening, I was sore. I learned that whenever you push yourself, you’ve gotta warm up. If you wanna grow, you have to warm up. And it’s not just exercise. Meetings, family life and every new growth experience requires a warm-up. Davening  (prayer) is a meeting. With G-d. And for prayer to be a growth experience, it requires a warm-up. Some people say, I’ll just jump into prayer and say the words. Of course, exercising without a warm-up is better than lying on the couch. Like prayer without a warm-up is better than not praying. But the warm-up allows your prayer to be a growing experience. Without soreness. The way...

Natanya is in NY at the Kinus Hashluchos (Rebbetzin convention) with the girls. So I’m with the boys. And we’re getting into trouble together. Yesterday, I took them to the zoo. And it was only $8 to feed the giraffes. So we did it. And got memories and video we’ll have forever. You can watch  here . As we were talking to the zookeepers, they told us a bunch of interesting giraffe facts. So I thought I’d tell them an interesting giraffe fact. “Did you know that giraffes are kosher?” Their eyebrows raised and looked at me with shock, like I was some psychopath giraffe poacher. So I quickly clarified. “I have no desire to eat giraffes, and usually we think of kosher as things that we’re allowed to eat, but animals that have split hooves and chew their cud are ‘pure’ animals.” It is kind of interesting. Torah uses the word “pure” to describe kosher animals. I don’t know what spiritual qualities make these animals kosher. But looking into eyes of that giraffe, I could see purity. Even ...

Natanya & I are still on a high from the outpouring of love we received from the community. Thank you so much! You don’t know how meaningful your support is to us. You’ve told how much you love us, and we love you too. Now is time for action. Purim is around the corner & we have some very special Purim baskets in the works. Thanks to you, more Jews than ever will receive a Purim basket this year. On that note, do you have a Jewish friend who would appreciate the Purim gift? With their permission, please sign them up at  Jewishtemecula.com/freegift . (If you haven’t been receiving these gifts, please sign yourself up! It wasn’t on purpose.) As for the new building, it’s finished. But probably not like you’re thinking, though. It’s kind of like the Temple (in Jerusalem). The prophets declared that the Temple is built and ready in heaven, and will come down from heaven when Moshiach comes. I never really understood what that meant. It sounds like a fairytale or special effects...

Natanya & I are still on a high from the outpouring of love we received from the community. Thank you so much! You don’t know how meaningful your support is to us. You’ve told how much you love us, and we love you too. Now is time for action. Purim is around the corner & we have some very special Purim baskets in the works. Thanks to you, more Jews than ever will receive a Purim basket this year. On that note, do you have a Jewish friend who would appreciate the Purim gift? With their permission, please sign them up at  Jewishtemecula.com/freegift . (If you haven’t been receiving these gifts, please sign yourself up! It wasn’t on purpose) As for the new building, it’s finished. But probably not like you’re thinking, though. It’s kind of like the Temple (in Jerusalem). The prophets declared that the Temple is built and ready in heaven, and will come down from heaven when Moshiach comes. I never really understood what that meant. It sounds like a fairytale or special effects ...