Is a Rainbow a Good Thing? — By Ben
A few weeks ago, I was practicing Hebrew with my mom over Facetime (as is our Friday morning ritual). Usually we practice the prayer for healing, or the shema, or […]
Category Archives: Posts by Ben
One More Day – Shemini Atzeres — By Ben
Whenever I would leave home to go back to college, or New York, or wherever I was living as an adult, when my dad drove me to the airport there […]
Yom Kippur – That’s Not How You Do Teshuvah — By Ben
Perhaps you’re familiar with the above sentiment. Out of nowhere you get a call/text/Facebook status update asking for forgiveness for anything your friend/acquaintance/relative might have done to you in the […]
Rosh Hashanah – The Work You’ve Already Done
Rosh Hashanah is a difficult holiday to wrap our heads around. At the forefront there is the notion of being inscribed in the Book of Life and God’s judgement. And […]
Ki Seitzei – A Dangerous Double Standard — By Ben
It’s two weeks before Rosh Hashanah (Can you believe it? Ach!). Clearly Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. Except in Judaism we have two New Years (actually four, but […]
Elul – It’s Your Move — By Ben
Shortly after I had started becoming observant, I was with my family at an event. As a whole my family has always been supportive of my choices, whether that has […]
Don’t Change the Torah. So What are Rabbinical Mitzvahs? — By Ben
In this week’s Torah portion Re’eh, we get the paramount instruction from God to, “Be careful to observe everything which I am commanding you, you shall not add to it […]
Eikev – Why Shema Is So Long — By Ben
Shema isn’t a prayer. Colloquially we tend to refer to any words meant for God as prayer. That can mean requests, praise, or gratitude. But None of those sentiments are […]
Why God Told Moses To Stop Praying — By Ben
Va’eschanan is a jam packed Torah Portion. There’s shema, which includes the mitzvahs of loving God, wrapping tefillin, and mezzuzah. There’s the retelling of 10 Commandments and the whole revelation […]
Tisha B’av – Whose Fault Is It Anyway? — By Ben
This Sunday we observe the “holiday” of Tisha B’Av. I put holiday in quotes because the day is anything but a time for celebration. Regarded as the worst day in […]
Six Degrees Of Kosher Bacon 