Tazriah - Metzorah תשפא This week’s Torah portions are replete with references to the concepts of טומאה - tumah and טהרה – tahara, what we call “spiritually unclean and spiritually clean.” These concepts have no parallel in the secular world,…
Owning an apartment building has its challenges. Tenants don’t pay their rent and local governments make it almost impossible to evict them. Plumbing starts getting old and leaks break out everywhere. People trash their apartments causing costly repairs, or leave…
Miriam, or Maria as she was now called, went over the shopping list for the fourth time. She wanted to ensure that buying horseradish at this time of year wouldn’t raise the ever suspicious eyes of the Inquisitors who were…
Bahar – Bechukotai תשפ In Parshat Bechukotai (the second of the two portions that should be read if there were Shul this week), Hashem promises the Jewish people that if they keep His commandments, they will receive every blessing in…
West Texas Intermediate sounds like a school for sixth to eight graders in a county where people wear cowboy boots to their wedding, their work, and their wake, but it actually describes a kind of oil. Even slightly more confusing…
Emor תשפ This week’s portion, Emor, contains the mitzvah to count the omer (Leviticus 23:15,16). (טו) וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה: (טז) עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה…
On our most recent vacation, our family went on a trip from the dining room to the living room. We weren’t able to get a direct flight, so instead we had to go the long route, with a short stopover…