Parshat Ekev 5777
Parshat Ekev Ekev is the third portion in the book of Devarim (Deuteronomy), the fifth book of the Torah. This entire book was told to the Jewish people in the last thirty six days of Moshe’s life, with last three…
You are Not One, You are Many…Nitzvim-Vayelech and Rosh Hashana 5777
You are not one, you are many. You are trillions. There are somewhere between ten and forty trillion little copies of you in this universe, each one as unique as you are. The trillions of you are found in your…
Everyone Wanna Be Like Mike…Ki Tavo 5777
He’s 33 years old, makes a salary of $1 a year, yet he’s the fifth richest man in the world with a net financial worth north of $70 billion. He never graduated college, but he did get an honorary degree…
The Tower that Leans…Ki Teitzei 5777
Construction is never a simple thing. The general rule is to expect projects to take thirty percent longer than scheduled and to cost thirty percent more than budgeted. But a building taking more than 200 years to build is considerably…
The Great Marriage Dilemma…Shoftim 5777
Shortly before I got married, I entered headlong into a massive controversy brewing among my friends, a number of whom were getting married about the same time as me. The question we grappled with was how to treat our wives…
The American Hippopotamus….Eikev 5777
I’ve never given too much thought to my last name. I know that Burnham isn’t much of a Jewish name; that was by design. My grandfather, whose last name was Berman, couldn’t get into medical school with a Jewish last…
Call Me Ishmael… or Better Yet, Call Me Moon Fizz…Vaetchanan 5777
After a raging debate, the Swedish authorities finally agreed to abandon the antiquated rules that had long been causing deep emotional pain to their constituents. The new law gives Swedish parents the rights and freedoms which are granted to almost…
The Road to Progress…Devarim 5777
Xi Cheng left home at the age of fourteen in search of bread. A two year drought had killed off all but the hardiest vegetable crops in his farming village of Zihua-Ni (mostly horseradish, potatoes, beets, and other root crops),…
But He was Just an Untrained Gardener… – Ha’azinu and Sukkos 5777
For most people, the rule of thumb is to stick to what you’re good at. But there are those rare individuals who can’t seem to stick to anything and are good at everything. Joseph Paxton was one of those people,…
Be a Navy Seal This Yom Kippur…Vayeilech and Yom Kippor 5777
Raise your hand if you believe in nine year old children working 12 hours a day in backbreaking and dangerous conditions? Raise it if you think it’s ok for men to be forced to climb barefoot into deep mines with…