Change of Perspective — By Ben
Balak is a fascinating Torah portion. Centering around Bilaam, the only non-Jewish prophet said to be on the level of Moses, this is the only place in all of the […]
Category Archives: Parsha
Urgent Care and Delayed Rebuke — By Ben
My back hurts a lot. I’ve never felt pain this debilitating before. I had been camping in Lake Casitas and I awoke in my tent in such agony it took […]
Korach Took — By Ben
The Torah tells us not to be like Korach. It doesn’t tell us not to be like the wicked prophet Bilam or Yaakov’s conniving uncle Lavan. It doesn’t even tell […]
What Chance Do We Have? — By Ben
Once again we’re at the chilling parsha, Shelach. If you’re not familiar, the Jews are literarily (and figuratively) at the finish line. After coming out of slavery, crossing the sea, and […]
Connection from Conformity? — By Ben
I’ve now been praying exclusively with a minyan for almost a year. The concretized service, ideally, is conducted with a quorum of 10 men and is done three times a […]
Better Than “Live Long and Prosper” — By Ben
“…You can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mister Spock, both Jewish!” The memorable line from the legendary Adam Sandler ballad, The Hanukkah Song reminds us that Judaism has […]
Shavuos – Two At Once — By Ben
The internet was set ablaze this week with the Laurel/Yanny phenomenon. If you’re not familiar, an audio recording was posted where people swore they heard the word “Laurel” while others […]
Messages from God — By Ben
I don’t know how many times I had glanced between my wall clock and my microwave’s time display not realizing there was a growing disparity between the two. Knowing I […]
Acharei Mos – Does Judaism believe in Satan? — By Ben
This week’s parsha details a bizarre ritual the Jews were to perform on Yom Kippur. Basically they took two identical goats, one to be sacrificed by the Kohen Gadol (high […]
Yom Ha’atzmaut – A Divisive Celebration — By Ben
Unfortunately, there are many things that divide the Jewish people. Food, prayer styles, politics. Pretty much the only thing we agree on is the comic genius of Mel Brooks. But […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 