Friday Shabbat Shalom
Oct 13, 2023
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For You are with me…” All of us are experiencing the many stages of grief and mourning. We are in a valley of darkness and pain, but we will not remain here forever.
Oct 6, 2023
Why do we need to be encouraged to be joyful during this week of Sukkot, culminating in Simchat Torah? Isn’t joy something that we should naturally gravitate towards and practice effortlessly? Well… think about your own life. Read about the lives of others. Especially these days it seems that a great many of us are having a difficult time “getting our joy on”…
Sep 29, 2023
The Torah instructs us that following the celebration of the seven days of Sukkot,"the eighth day shall be a time of Atzeret [translated as “retreat”] for you when you shall do no mundane work." What is the significance of this eighth day [called Atzeret]? And why does it follow the seven days of Sukkot?
Sep 22, 2023
Most of the time, we’re on autopilot. With everything that life throws at us, it has to be that way. So we see things only on a superficial level as we whizz by. On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are called to look at life differently. We are encouraged to turn off the autopilot. We stop, think and analyze. We admit, regret and fix.
Sep 14, 2023
As the only communal Jewish organization in Miami striving to improve the quality of Jewish education at every level, CAJE is aware, prepared and ready to act on the voice calling us to keep pushing for greater excellence, for further transformation, for lasting impact on behalf of the Jewish people.
Sep 8, 2023
The Slonimer Rebbe, from a volume called, Mayanot Netzach, teaches that, “You stand before God this day — all of you,” meaning that when we stand before God, the entirety of our lives, the entirety of who we are and what we have done, stands before God.
Sep 1, 2023
The Klausenberger Rebbe was well known for re-settling those of his Chasidim who had survived the Holocaust in and around the Beth Moses Hospital in Brooklyn. So, one morning in 1952 on the Shabbat of Ki Tavo, this week’s Torah portion, I set out from my home to be in the presence of a truly holy man.
Aug 25, 2023
This week we concentrate on one of the many mitzvot in the parsha (Ki Teitzei), one that is easily overlooked but that contains a monumental life lesson. Torah is mostly concerned with remembering: Remembering our Exodus from Egypt, remembering the merit of our forefathers… Memory is an integral feature of our faith because it grounds us by constantly reminding us from whence we came and where we are headed. There is, however, one mitzvah that is the antithesis of remembering…
Aug 18, 2023
There are several very powerful suggestions in Parshat Shoftim as to precisely what it is we should be looking for during the month of Elul as we turn toward the gates of the soul in preparation for Teshuvah / Returning. These suggestions come, oddly enough, in the laws of war...
Aug 11, 2023
The new month of Elul [this coming Wednesday night] famously opens us to a time of renewed intimacy. As we gear up for the Yamim Noraim, the holiest days of the year [known as the High Holy Days], we enter into the holy of holies of the Jewish heart.
