(print version) It was her eyes that really captured me; there was an intense sadness there mixed with pain, and yet every now and then a flash of fire that seemed to suggest... defiance...determination? The woman was being interviewed on the news, and I stopped for a minute to watch. The screen was focused in close, showing only her … [Read more...]

(print version) Love Thyself!! Secrets to Your Ultimate and Everlasting Net Worth Just as a person must believe in G-d, so too, he must afterwards believe in Himself. That is to say, that G-d is involved with him and he is not a waste—that he is here today and gone tomorrow... Rather one must believe that his soul is from the Source of … [Read more...]

(print version) It was only 4 a.m., and the cold was starting to get to me. We were halfway through a month of reserve duty in the Gaza Strip, and as usual, we were finishing off the night patrol at the Erez Junction, backing up the skeleton crew that was guarding this all-important entryway, over the Green Line into the soft belly of the Jewish … [Read more...]

(print version) To Serve with Joy Is your life ‘out of service’? “And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh; and he said unto them: 'Go, serve the LORD your G-d; but who are they that shall go?' And Moses said: 'We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our … [Read more...]

(print version) Walk in to any Jewish home and ask yourself: what distinguishes it as a Jewish home? There is actually no ritual, biblical obligation concerning the Jewish home, save one: the mezuzah. One would expect to find this symbol, therefore, in the center of our homes, the living room or dining room. Yet we place our mezuzot in the … [Read more...]

(print version) Where is G-d, the Miracle Maker? People often say, “If there is really a G-d, why doesn’t He do outright miracles anymore? I would believe in G-d if I saw the ten plagues in Egypt, the sea split or some other supernatural event.” In the past, G-d did miracles in order to prevent some terrible tragedy from happening. … [Read more...]

(print version) Imagine coming home at the end of a long day. Your wife and children are all home, and you call them into the living room to announce something. Curious, they all sit down on the sofa, waiting to hear what is so important. Perhaps this is your response to some deep, long conversation you had with one of them earlier in the … [Read more...]

(print version) Identity Crisis is a Gift: Awakening to the Role and Goal of Your Soul Kirk Douglas, the actor, once told me that when people compliment him on a performance, they often tell him how great he was at losing himself in the part. "You just became Vincent Van Gogh! You were so wonderful." And he answers, "No, you lost yourself … [Read more...]

(print version) This is a well-known story received over the Internet long ago; if you gain nothing else from this week's Tastings of Torah but reading this story, it will have been worth it. One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I noticed a kid from my class walking home from school, who looked like he was carrying all of his books. … [Read more...]

 (click here for print version) Sick minds, sick bodies The power of our beliefs to heal or harm The Jewish Sages gave a spiritual rather than physiological explanation for the disease tsara'as (generally translated as "leprosy") which affected not only the body but also clothing and the walls of houses. According to one source several … [Read more...]