This is a true story. The name has been changed. Sasha Bazarov never had it easy. He emigrated to the USA together with his parents from Uzbekistan as a young child. His parents had to leave everything behind, and in…
Ki Tavo תשע"ט In the glorious days of the Holy Temple, every week, in cities all over the Land of Israel, one of the twenty-four families of Kohanim, and the Levites assigned to them, would meet to travel together to…
We crossed into Egypt at the Taba Border Crossing around midnight. I was exhausted, dirty, and bone weary after two utterly crazy days in Jordan, but I trudged up to passport control with resigned indifference. If it were up to…
Parshat Ki Tetzei תשע"ט The boy was trouble from Day One. Even in the hospital, the nurses couldn’t figure out how to make him happy and stop his incessant crying. As he got older, the crying stopped, but the mischief…
There used to be four seasons a year; spring, summer, fall and winter. But these days we have created many more seasons for ourselves. There is constructions season from April to Nov, Pumpkin Spice Latte season, which had an early…
Parshat Shoftim תשע"ט “Good fences make good neighbors,” goes the saying. When boundaries and limitations are visible and clearly defined, it is easy to respect others’ property. People run into trouble when it is unclear to them where their domain…
Parshat Re’eh תשע"ט This week’s portion, "ראה" starts with a bang. Moshe tells the Jewish people in the name of HaShem (Deuteronomy 11:26): "רְאֵה אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה" “Look! I am placing before you today blessing and curse!”…