Messages from 2024

Rabbi O’s Weekly: Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8)

) Believing in Your Future  In the past, Jewish farmers would bring their harvest’s first fruits to Jerusalem. They would travel together with other farmers led by oxen whose horns had been coated in gold adorned with olive branches placed on their heads, and flutes musically accompanied the procession; they would travel for only […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9)I Hear You Knocking, but You Can’t Come In

A chassid was plagued by constant negative thoughts and couldn’t concentrate due to temptation, fantasy, worry, and anxiety. One night he was so desperate that he went to his Rebbe’s house hoping the Rebbe would impart some wisdom for how to rid himself of these destructive thoughts. He knocked on the front door, but nobody answered. He […]

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

Delta Force and You The following incident about the unique training required by the Army’s most elite special forces unit was recorded by Eric Haney in his book Inside Delta Force. I had covered just slightly over thirty miles by now, but still had more than twenty to go. It was getting more and more difficult […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Pinchas (Numbers 25:10-30:1)

Great Days, not Dark Days Choni HaMaagal, a Jewish sage who lived two thousand years ago, once passed a man planting a carob tree and asked how long it would take for the tree to bear fruit. When the man responded that it would take 70 years, Choni asked, “are you certain you will live another seventy years?” […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Balak (Numbers 22:2–25:9)

Israel: The Great Light We Call Home The IDF has fought wars for Israel’s survival since the inception of the State. Syria, Lebanon, Jordon and other Nations who are in close proximity to Israel could have easily chosen to live in peace but chose war. Thousands of years ago Balak, the king of the Moabite nation, […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Chukas (Numbers 19:1-22:1)

To Life!An unpleasant topic we all must deal with is death. Two years ago, I lost my mother and father within three months of one another. No amount of logic soothed my emotions. They were both in their nineties and had led full, active, and productive lives. They were generous and we had a wonderful […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Korach (Numbers 16-18) 

 Good—or Bad and Ugly: How to ArgueOver thirty years ago Sara shared a story with me she heard from one of the marriage counselors who trained her. He was called late at night by a neighbor in an apartment building who heard a couple yelling at one another and it seemed to be getting progressively […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Shlach (Numbers 13-15)

Master Your Surroundings or They Will Master YouThe time had come for the Israelites to send spies to the Land of Israel to make a reconnaissance mission. Before entering the Land, they needed to know about its inhabitants and terrain. There were twelve spies in all, two of whom (Joshua and Caleb) came back with […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Naso (Numbers 4:21-7:89)

Seizing the Moment of Inspiration Imagine a college freshman away from home for the first time; the feeling of freedom sets in immediately. He can finally party, drink, and do other activities whenever he likes but he isn’t mature in how he uses his new autonomy. After a month or two he begins to see the […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Bechukosai (Leviticus 26:3-27:34) 

The Familiar and Predictable Pattern We Seem to Forget  In1927, Meshech Chochma¸ one of the original Torah commentaries in the modern era was published. In this piece, the familiar cycle of Jews excelling in their host country and then the ensuing persecution is explained. It is remarkable—if not prophetic—that, years before the Holocaust, this commentary used […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Behar (Leviticus 25:1-26:2)

)A Radical Solution for Intergenerational Poverty Imagine the following two scenarios: (1) You decide to sell land that had been in your family for generations and sometime later you realize it was a major immense mistake. Your family falls into poverty, which leads to a downward social and economic spiral, one which can lead to what […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Kedoshim (Leviticus19-20)

Rethinking Holy Karl Duncker, one of the pioneers of Gestalt psychology, conceived a challenge to demonstrate the need for unconventional thinking. In a room with a table pushed against the wall is a box of thumbtacks, matches, and a candle. Subjects were asked to attach the candle to the wall and have it lit. Many […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Achrei Mot(Leviticus 16-18)

Self-Imposed SlaveryWhat would you do if you lost your life’s savings? About 18 years ago, thousands of people had to face this tragedy. In her book Lost and Found, Geneen Roth describes the intense pain of finding out that all her life’s savings were lost to Bernie Madoff but what she gained was priceless.Before the […]

The Final Days of Passover 5784-2024

Freedom is not Enough If you had lived in communist Russia in 1922, you would have endured great oppression. What words of encouragement might a community Rabbi have imparted? How could he talk about freedom on Passover when people’s basic human rights were being denied? R’ Moshe Feinstein was in this situation over 100 years […]

Passover 5784-2024 This is the Story of a Hurricane

Ever since October 7th, our world has been forever altered but long before that the winds of change have been blowing. In one generation, snail mail turned into email, rotary phones turned into cell phones, and Blackberry turned into an iPhone. There’s uncertainty concerning politics, gender, marriage, support for Israel and many other issues that […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Metzora Internal Freedom

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Metzora Internal Freedom Social media has made it commonplace for people to post negative and condemning remarks about people with whom they disagree. This and other types of malicious behavior are considered major offenses in Judaism. There’s not a whole lot we can do about it today but in ancient times, a person who […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha:Tazria (Leviticus 14-25)

Creating PossibilitiesThis week’s Parsha discusses the harmful effects of lashon hara, senseless negative speech. People who don’t take speech seriously, talk 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 is that negative talk has the ability to destroy […]

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

Preying vs. Praying  This week’s Parsha ends with a detailed discussion concerning the specifics for determining whether a fish, animal, or even insect is kosher. The exact names of the kosher birds are listed and in addition we are taught what characteristics a bird requires to be fit for Jewish consumption. Birds of prey […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Tsav(Leviticus 6-8)

Why Civilizations Die In the book, The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking our way out of extinction, Rebecca Costa delivers a fascinating account of how civilizations die. Their problems become too complex. Societies reach what she calls a cognitive threshold. They simply can’t chart a path from the present to the future. The example she gives is the […]

Purim 5784/2024 Are You Frozen or Chosen?

Someone once summarized all Jewish holidays: they tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat, and this seems to be the case in the Purim story. A plan (between King Achashverosh and his advisor Haman) was made to annihilate the Jews, the plan was thwarted, Jews defeated their enemies, and since then we have made […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly Parsha: Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:3)

Lessons from Dunkin Donuts And they brought the Mishkan (Tabernacle) to Moses… When all the parts of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) had been made, they were brought to Moses, who actually stood the walls up and erected the Mishkan. Rashi quoting the Midrash explains that due to the massive weight of the materials, none of the people were able to raise it up, so […]

Rabbi O’s Weekly ParshÐa: Ki Tisa (Exodus 30:11-34:35)

The Power of Experience After being liberated from Egypt and participating the Sinai experience, the Jews build a Golden Calf. Now it came to pass when he (Moses) drew closer to the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses became angry, and he threw down the tablets… (Ex. 32:19) Moses had spent 40 days and […]