Fear before Belief? In this week’s Torah reading, as the Torah describes the splitting of the Yam Suf (Red Sea), the Torah says that the Jews became fearful of God […]
Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Chaim Mintz Why do the Jewish people use a lunar calendar while other nations use a solar one? And why is its use the very […]
A Miraculous Change of Heart In this week’s Torah reading, Parshat Bo, prior to the Jews being liberated, the Torah relates a surprising fact. The Torah tells us (Shemot 11:3,12:36) […]
If Looks Could Kill Years ago, I remember upsetting my brother. Now, that wasn’t so memorable, because I was the annoying kid brother and he was the annoyed big brother. […]
Jealousy in the Torah לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ לֹא תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ וְשׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ Do not covet your fellow’s house. Do not covet your fellow’s wife, or his servant […]
Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Chaim Mintz The world is in shock over the wildfires raging in California, where lives have been lost and the destruction is nothing short of […]
Why Did God Inflict Disaster? In this week’s Torah reading, God commanded Moshe (Moses), time after time, to strike the land of Egypt with plagues, as a consequence for Pharaoh’s […]
Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Chaim Mintz I often perform mitzvot (Torah commandments) without much thought or meaning, like I’m just going through the motions. Do such mitzvot still count? […]
A Sign of Laxity? In this week’s Torah reading, Moshe (Moses) approaches Pharaoh and tells him to free the Jews from their slavery. Pharaoh refuses to do this, and in […]
Chesed Shel Emet – Kindness to the Dead In the beginning of this week’s Torah reading, Yaakov (Jacob) summoned his son Yosef (Joseph) and requested of him to do “kindness […]