Rabbi Abrams Blog

I hope you had an amazing week.  We just got back with the family last night from a few day trip to Mammoth and Yosemite (thank you Uncle Mark in Mammoth and Dr. Kaye from Fresno for hosting us!) A few weeks ago, we started reading the last book of the five books of Torah, Devarim (Deuteronomy).   The entire book is the final speech of Moses, which broke the Guinness world record for the longest speech ever.  It was 36 days long. Moses spoke to the Jewish people as they were on the east bank of the Jordan river, about to cross into Israel.  (They would wake up in the morning and gather to listen, until the end of the day, when they would go back to their tents to sleep, to then come back out the next day and pick up where they left off). For some reason, this year, as I’ve studied the portion every day, I’m finding it so much more meaningful and relevant than ever before.  Here are a few points I’m noticing: Moses the Rabbi/Rebbe If there is any role model for a...

A few months ago, in honor of the Rebbe’s birthday, I made a resolution to get back into the habit of going every Friday to do some outreach, visit some Jews and do mitzvahs together. Especially tefillin for men, and Shabbos candles for women. Today Hashem taught me a lesson about this. I was planning to go a bit later in the day, but had to run to Lowes for a couple cans of paint. While pulling out of our driveway, the thought crossed my mind to bring a pair of tefillin with me just in case I meet some Jews, but I brushed it off, saying, “I’m going to do some outreach later today anyways.  How many Jews will there be at Lowes already?” Sure enough, I walked up to the ProDesk and two Israelis were sitting right there. Hopefully, they’ll put on tefillin like they promised, but it’s a reminder for me to always be prepared for mitzvahs that Hashem lines up in my path. This Shabbos is the “Vision Shabbos”, when G-d shows us all a vision (at some level) of the Third Temple we are waitin...