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Kabbalah #22: Yesod: Foundation
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman The sefirah of yesod anchors the world to its spiritual bedrock.
Hot Air
by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller Passover cleaning can liberate us from our most dangerous enemy -- our fragile egos.
Buddhism, Judaism, and The Great Cheerio Fiasco
by Sara Yoheved Rigler Many Jews turn to Buddhism to rise to spiritual heights. Judaism says, "Take the whole world up with you."
Mastering The Gratitude Attitude
by Rabbi Dov Heller, M.A. It begins with getting rid of the entitlement attitude, which puts "my rights" ahead of everything else.
Of Angels And Poinsettias
by Sara Yoheved Rigler Angels can be created by human beings. My father taught me how.
Prayer #10 - Upside-down Hourglass
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston By having the right intention in prayer, we raise the sparks and bring time closer to its ultimate end.
Kabbala #21: Yesod: The Translator
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman The sefirah of yesod, "foundation," translates spiritual concepts into actions that unite us with God.
Breaking the Comfort Barrier
by Sara Yoheved Rigler Forget the holiday hike. A real spiritual path is steep and challenging.
I Can't Wait for the Day When...
by Rabbi Yaakov Salomon What are the most fervent dreams of America's young execs? You are in for a surprise.
Of Earthquakes and Abortion
by Am Echad Resources We are willing to extend Herculean efforts to save a life, even when the possibility is remote. Why should limiting abortion on demand be any different?
Prayer #9 - Holy Sparks of Energy
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston The holy sparks of spiritual energy, embedded in the physical, animate the universe and fuel redemption.
Falling In Love With God – Part 1
by Rabbi Dov Heller, M.A. To enjoy the greatest pleasure in life, we need to embrace the half of the glass that's full and the half that's empty.
The Restriction Prescription
by Rabbi Yaakov Salomon Is less really more? Why does Judaism have so many restrictions?
Way #27: Happiness
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg You can be rich and miserable. Happiness is a state of mind. Develop tools for how to get it.
Way #32: Love Humanity
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg Imagine having never seen a human being before. What a fantastic gadget!
Holy Fire
by Sara Yoheved Rigler When Esh Kodesh was a boy, he wished his kindergarten teacher: "May they not kill you. May you not die young." Last month, he died at age 25, gunned down by an Arab terrorist.
Suddenly Sinai
by Eytan Kobre With Palestinian propaganda aimed at severing the Jewish Biblical connection to the Holy Land, the revelation at Mount Sinai has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight.
Courage Versus Chutzpah
by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin Boldness and brazenness are two sides of the same coin. What leads to great acts of courage, the other can render great harm. But both can be turned to do good.
Kabbala #20: Netzach and Hod: Means to an End
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman Just like a loving parent may seem cruel when harshly disciplining a child in order to instill good values, the "tactical" sefirot of netzach and hod are often not what they seem.
Hear O Israel: Part 3 - Jewish Unity
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Embodied in the first verse of the Sh'ma, and its accompanying praise of God's kingdom, is a profound allusion to the unity of the Jewish people.
Legalizing Assisted Suicide
by Am Echad Resources Last week, the Dutch Parliament officially legalized what has been common practice in the Netherlands for many years: the killing of patients by doctors.
Alice's Cake
by Sara Yoheved Rigler Israel is traumatized when a terrorist bomb maims three children, but one woman is catapulted to a new level of gratitude.
Prayer #7 - Hear O Israel Part II
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston If we look at the Sh'ma, the quintessential Jewish prayer, through the eyes of gematria, we can see encoded the mission of Jews in world history.
Trusting God
by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller and Sara Yoheved Rigler When reading reports of hair-raising cruelty, trusting God means knowing that the answers to why Israel is under attack are there, even if they are not obvious at the moment.
Prayer #6 - Hear O Israel: Part 1
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston The message of the Sh'ma is applicable to every Jew at all times, at every conscious moment. It embodies one of the most profound concepts known to man: the Oneness of God.
Lieberman's Connecticut Wasn't My Connecticut
by Sarah Shapiro I was a Jewish kid who didn't know what it meant to be Jewish, who was painfully, earnestly trying to fit in by concealing the Jewishness I knew nothing about.
Kabbala #19: History of Kabbala Part II
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman The imagery of Kabbalah, which examines God's actions through metaphor, can never lead to the creation of images or the suggestion that the One God exists in fragments.
Witchcraft and Judaism
by Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky Between God and nature lies a bridge of the occult. A slip-up means falling into the abyss of spiritual perversion.
Prayer #5 - Prayer Role Models
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Abraham and Moses knew how to turn every action into an experience of communicating with God. Their very existence became synonymous with "prayer."
Kabbala #18: Center of the Earth
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman The sefirot of chesed, gevurah, tiferet -- kindness, strength and beauty -- have an interrelationship that serves as a model for understanding the relationships between the other sefirot.
Olympics and Kavanah
by Richard Greenberg Eons before anybody ever heard of Marion Jones or Tiger Woods, Judaism recognized the importance of mental focus. In the case of Judaism, however, the stakes are weightier than any gold medal.
Life is Beautiful
by Elana Rosenblatt About two years ago, we had an unplanned growth in our family -- a large cancerous tumor.
Asking God For Forgiveness
by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller Skip the paralyzing guilt...The traditional confession repeated five times during the prayer service helps us do the inner work to mazimize the power of the day.
Praying Big, Praying Small
by Yaffa Ganz Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are a time of concentrated prayer. But how does one pray effectively if one isn't even sure how to begin or what to pray for?
Bad Attitude: A True Story For Yom Kippur
by Rabbi Tzvi Gluckin "My career was still stuck in neutral. I wasn't working. I wasn't doing anything to get things going either, except blaming my roomate for ruining my life with his success."
Kabbala #17: History of Kabbala: Part 1
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman A mysterious dialogue between Moses and God gives us clues to the "ways of God" -- revelations of a deep mystical knowledge which enriches our understanding of the Torah.
Micros and Macros
by Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits How do we face the challenges of these most significant days?
The Secret Formula
by Azriel Hirsh Friedman I spent six years marketing a parade of pleasures, only to find out that God throws theme parties all the time.
Prayer #4 - Feeding the Universe
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston The physical universe contains a spiritual counterpart that acts as its soul. To thrive, the soul of the universe needs to be nourished by prayer.
It's So Hard!
by Sara Yoheved Rigler It's today's mantra. But there are times when even super-human effort isn't hard. How do we get over that hurdle?
Lost in Berlin
by Rabbi Tzvi Gluckin Deiter turned Ben on to German beer. They were having an amazing time. Until Ben got lost with no money and no map...
6 Constant - #4 - Love God
by Rabbi Noah Weinberg A passionate desire to connect with the Almighty is a constant human striving. How do we know if we're connecting?
Prayer #3 - Praying With Purity
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston Purity has the power to transform prayer into a focused, uplifting experience. Here are a few simple tools.
Nike and the Purpose of Life
by Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith What is the purpose of existence? Let's first answer: What is the purpose of the Nike shoe factory?
What's A Nice Cosmo Girl Like You Doing With An Orthodox Husband?
by Andrea Kahn Once upon a time, she lived in Beverly Hills, wrote for Teen Magazine and had a personal trainer.
Prayer #2 - In Search of Meaningful Prayer
by Rabbi Pinchas Winston The difference between the words in the seemingly incomprehensible Siddur and those in your heart is your understanding. Here's how to make them one and the same.
Going Home
by Elliot Mathias "I always considered myself to be pretty independent. So why, in the back of my mind, was I dreading the inevitable return home with a strange new kippah sitting on my head?"
The Light of the Life Force
by Rabbi Levi Meier The stories of the Bible contain ancient, timeless secrets for living an empowered life. From the very first words, we are inspired to connect with the light.
Kabbala #16: Beauty as Mercy
by Rabbi Shimon Leiberman The dynamic of interaction between the three sefirot of "action" can be compared to a courtroom where kindness, chesed, is the defender and judgment gevurah/din the prosecutor.
To Save A Life
by Rabbi Kalman Packouz and Ron Johnson This week in Jerusalem, a grove of trees was planted in honor of Ron Johnson, the British janitor who donated his lung to try to save a life.