BS”D What do you think of when you see or hear the word simcha? Do you imagine people who are smiling and happy or talking excitedly? Perhaps, you see people who are singing, dancing, jumping, clapping hands… But is this really simcha? . To Serve HaShem in Simcha… In Hebrew there are actually several…
BS”D In my last article, I mentioned that it is very easy to get so focused on the things that we are doing wrong in our lives that we can despair of ever getting it right. It’s because we have fallen for the illusion. The reality is that as long as we are alive there…
BS”D Even for those of us who are generally optimistic, it is so easy to focus on all the “wreckage” in our lives… all the bad decisions we’ve made… all the times we’ve fallen… all the good resolutions that were never kept… all the places where we feel like we have no control. Positive change…
Read More “Chanukah Lights: Believing that Change is Possible” »
BS”D In the Torah we are instructed to celebrate the seven-day festival of Sukkos by taking the four species, collectively known as the lulav and esrog, into our hands: לְקַחְתֶּ֨ם לָכֶ֜ם בַּיּ֣וֹם הָֽרִאשׁ֗וֹן פְּרִ֨י עֵ֤ץ הָדָר֙ כַּפֹּ֣ת תְּמָרִ֔ים וַֽעֲנַ֥ף עֵֽץ־עָבֹ֖ת וְעַרְבֵי־נָ֑חַל וּשְׂמַחְתֶּ֗ם לִפְנֵ֛י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֖ם שִׁבְעַ֥ת יָמִֽים And you shall take for yourselves on the…
Read More “The Symbolism of the Lulav and Esrog: The Power of Potential” »
BS”D Seek Hashem when He can be found. Call upon Him when He is near. Yeshiya 55:6 According to Chazal the days when HaShem is most accessible are the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. It is during this special period that the doors of teshuva are wide open, when one…
Read More “Returning to HaShem Requires Emunah and Emunah Requires Tefillah” »
