Messages from July 2023

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: V’etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11)

July 28, 2023
Deuteronomy
Vaetchanan

Have You Ever Met a Person Who Wants to be an Eagle? The last of the Ten Commandments is an order not covet. Desiring someone or something is a thought; can one be commanded not to want something? You can tell me not to steal, kill, or not do an action, but how can one be […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22)Sometimes You Lose When You Win

July 21, 2023
Deuteronomy
Devarim

Rabbi Berel Wein tells a story from his youth when he was a student in Chicago’s Hebrew Theological College, the Skokie Yeshiva. In 1945, the Cubs made it to the World Series against the Tigers. Rabbi Wein’s friend, who was 13 or 14 at the time, stood in line all night to buy tickets to […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Matot-Masei (Numbers 30-36)

July 14, 2023
Numbers
Masei, Matot

Finding Meaning in the Journey Why does the Torah contain a detailed travelog of the journeys of the Jews in the desert? Beginning with the exodus from Egypt, it lists the name of each destination along the way as well as some recollections. Being as the Land of Israel was their ultimate and final destination, […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1)Judaism Can’t be Outsourced

July 7, 2023
Numbers
Pinchas

What quality must an authentic Jewish leader possess?When the people saw that Moses was late in coming down from the mountain, the people gathered against Aaron, and they said to him: “Come on! Make us a god that will go before us, because this man Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt […]