Justified Selfishness — By Ben
Pirkei Avos 1:14 says, [Rabbi Hillel] used to say: If I am not for myself who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? […]
Author Archives: eltram
Shavuos – Letting Yourself Ask for Help — By Ben
I’ve worked in restaurants on and off since college. The job can be tremendously stressful, hectic, and in the midst of the dinner rush, can feel like war. Imagine that 3 […]
Praying with Two Hearts — By The Anonymous Blogger
Mishneh 4:21 in Pirkei Avos reads, Rabbi Elazar Ha-Kapar says, Kinah, Taivah, and Kavod drive a man out of the world. Kinah is translated as envy or jealousy. Kavod is the […]
Hod. The Link between Pesach Sheni, Lag B’Omer, and Manna from Heaven. – By Ben
We’re in a really odd time right now in the Jewish calendar. Between Pesach and Shavuos is a what’s known as the counting of the Omer. For 49 days we count each […]
Kedoshim – Who the Hell Wants to be Holy? — By Ben
I don’t know about you, but I never have had any desire to be holy. You walk around seeing hassidic men in shtreimels avoiding all secular media or looking away from […]
Trauma, Yom Hashoah, and The Zookeeper’s Wife — By Ben
As we observed Yom Hashoah this past week, we had a special opportunity to look back at what we have lost, who we have lost, and how we as the […]
For Who Could Ever Learn to Love a Beast? — By Ben
Beauty and the Beast is one of Disney’s most beloved and important films. It was the first animated movie to be nominated for best picture, it ushered in a modern […]
Pesach – So We Left Egypt. Who Cares? — By Ben
As we prepare to celebrate Pesach, we once again return to the story of how God took our ancestors out of Egypt. We’ll do the two seders, abstain from chometz, […]
Vayikra – Sacrifices Shmacrifices — By Ben
This week’s Torah portion starts the book of Vayikra, aka Leviticus. It’s one of the less exciting parts of the Torah, in that it mostly deals with the instructions and […]
Purim – The Biggest Upset — By Ben
The Atlanta Falcons, Hillary Clinton, and La La Land walk into a bar. The Atlanta Falcons say, “I can’t believe it, 3rd quarter, we were up by 3 touch downs. […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 