Vayishlach – Worrisome Reunions
It always amuses me when parsha Vayishlach falls around (or in this case, on) the week of Thanksgiving. With Yaakov returning home to see his brother… the brother he stole […]
Category Archives: Holidays
Succos – The Woman With the Yarmulke — By Ben
It was almost a month ago when I noticed a woman wearing a bright yarmulke as I pulled into the parking lot of my usual Starbucks. I’m not going to […]
Forgive But Do Not Forget – What This Holy Time Teaches Us – By Marc
Rosh Hashanah… Yom Kippur… Sukkot… Simchat Torah… Such a holy time of the year, and so many valuable life lessons in each of these holidays. One of the most significant […]
The Four Days After Yom Kippur
I’m davening maariv, the evening prayer, immediately following the final moments of Yom Kippur. We’ve not broken the fast, we’ve not even done havdalah, but as I’m praying, all I […]
From Ominous And Dark To Bright And Light – Return… Return – By Marc
Tonight is Kol Nidre. Tomorrow is Yom Kippur. As a young lad in a Conservative Shul, whose family only went to services on the High Holy Days, there was a […]
Yom Kippur – The Maybe Mindset — By Ben
Yom Kippur is upon us once again. A looooooooong day of fasting, fretting, apologizing… we all know the drill by now. But in all seriousness, Yom Kippur is a tremendously […]
Nitzavim – No More Excuses on Rosh Hashanah
As we approach the high holidays, the final parshas of the Torah are often overlooked in place of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur ideas. But there’s a reason we read […]
Apples, Honey And Paradigm Shift For Rosh Hashanah – By Marc
At our monthly Mensch Night at Chabad Of West Hills we did an exercise where we were asked to define Hashem in five words. Mine were: Everything, All-Powerful, Energy, Infinite […]
Rosh Hashana – Call of the Shofar — By Ben
With Rosh Hashana fast approaching we can all get ready for hours of sitting and standing, letting our minds wander, counting how many pages are left in the service, and […]
Why Your New Year’s Resolutions Fail — By Ben
My Rabbi likes to say when writing your New Year’s resolutions, most people can take out last year’s list, cross out the date, and write this year’s instead. U.S. News reports […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 