The parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called B’shalach and it means, “And it was when he sent.” It beings with Pharaoh finally sending us on our way, out of the womb of Egypt and through the sea of Reeds to a new life. After Pharaoh did this, god did not lead the children of Yisrael the short way through the Philistines because he she wanted to avoid having them see war. Instead they go into the wilderness of the Yam … Continue reading
The parsha (weekly Torah portion) we we are reading this week is called R’ay, which is the command form of the verb to see. The parsha begins with Moshe (Moses) commanding the people to see that he is putting before them a blessing and a curse, depending on if they follow in haShem’s (god) way or not. We then read where they are supposed to do this ritual of blessing and curse, and of another warning to follow the laws, … Continue reading
Hanukkah started tonight; so, I thought I would share a thought or two about it. Why did the sages make Hanukkah a holiday? The obvious answer is the two miracles: defeating the Greeks and the oil lasting 8 days. However, we have had other miracles like these that the sages did not turn into holidays: Joshua stopping the sun and the defeat of Cicero two name just two. So why did the sages make a holiday of Hanukkah? The answer … Continue reading
Hello and welcome to the days of returning. We are now in the 10 days between Rosh haShanah (head of change in Hebrew) and Yom Kippor (Hebrew for day of atonement. It is also called Yom haKipporim which means: the day like Purim). These 10 days are called days of repentance, however the Hebrew word for repentance, tshuvah, really means an answer or a return. You see, on Rosh haShanah we invoked the beginning of change. Now we are in … Continue reading
Recently I have been in the market for an external hard drive for my computer. Last week I received an email from a local computer store for 66% discount on a 2 terabyte drive. I thought this was great and a few days later, I went to the store to buy it. When I got to the store, I grabbed the last drive they had and went to the cashier with my coupon. The manager came over and said the … Continue reading
Hello and welcome to the Thursday Shmooze. We haven’t had one for the last few weeks because of Passover, but now that the holydays have passed, it is time to shmooze! This week a friend brought me an interesting question. It starts with the end of Passover; specifically the splitting of the sea. Now according to the midrash, there was a man named Nachshom who was the first to walk into the sea. The water got up to his nose … Continue reading