Messages from April 2020

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Tazria-Metzora (Leviticus 12-15)Speaking Without Critiquing

    This week’s Parsha continues discussing the harmful effects oflashon hara, senseless negative speech. Many people don’t take speech seriously; they freely speak about others without regard for their feelings or the potential damage it can cause. King Solomon wrote, Life and death are in the hands of the tongue. One explanation given in the Talmud is that […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Shmini (Leviticus 9-11)A Birdseye View

When enumerating the non-kosher birds, the Torah mentions a bird called da’ah. The Talmud points out that, later on (Deuteronomy 14:12), when the Torah repeats the list of kosher birds, it refers to it as a ra’ah. The Talmud (Chulin 63a) takes note of the Etymological significance of “ra’ah” because it is the root of the Hebrew verb […]