Almost Eden

BS"D Parashat Va’yakhel-Pekudai 5770 A. Preface Yesterday, I met a close friend who is a well-know rabbi presently living in the States. He was in a hurry, but stopped just enough to call out, "Continue your writing and don’t be intimidated by your… more »

DVAR TORAH: PESACH'S "OPEN-DOOR" POLICY RABBI STEWART WEISS We all know about the Jewish prisoner who petitioned the warden to allow him to hold a Pesach Seder in jail. When asked by a fellow inmate why he was so adamant about davka celebrating Pesac… more »

BS"D Parashat Ki Tisa 5770 Part A: The roots of this message are imbedded in the Megila and Tractate Megila, and therefore it would seemingly have been more appropriate to send it before Purim. But since its massive trunk, intertwined boughs and th… more »

DVAR TORAH: PICKING UP THE PIECES RABBI STEWART WEISS Life, as we know, is often inscrutable. While we certainly experience life and know a lot about it - and even try to master it – its intricacies and its deeper meaning are often beyond us, and de… more »

BS"D Parashat Tetzaveh - Shabbat Zechor 5770Shemot 27:20And you shall command the Children of israel, that they take to (for) you clear oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the eternal flame ablazeThe Midrash Raba on this week’s p… more »

BS"D Parashat Teruma 5770 A: SEDER AND HESDER Book of Daniel (10:4-7): 4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, 5 I looked up and there before me was a man (angel) dressed in lin… more »

DVAR TORAH: YIDS AND YUDS RABBI STEWART WEISS This is something out of the “When Moshiach Comes!” file: Moshe appeals to the nation for donations, and after just a few days, he must beg them to stop giving – we have more than we need! Our response… more »

BS"D Parashat Mishpatim 5770Two statements came out this week from the Ayotullas in Teheran, that they will begin enriching uranium to the level of 20%, and their oft repeated threat to destroy every man woman and child in Medinat Yisrael as the init… more »

DVAR TORAH: THE ANGELS AMONG US RABBI S. WEISS Our Sedra of Mishpatim shows Judaism’s “sensitive” side. How we must respond to the needs of the poor, the widow, the orphan, the disenfranchised, even the slave and members of the animal kingdom. Bu… more »

BS"D Parashat Yitro 5770 Prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai, the newly freed nation of Israel encamped at a place called Mara, where HaShem revealed to Moshe three out of the pending 613 mitzvot: Shabbat, honoring one’s father and mother, and civi… more »