Rabbi Lazer Gurkow

Vayetze: Show your children your love of Judaism

First, we must love Judaism ourselves. Then, we can impart this love to our children.

Toldot: Shaming a son to his father

G-d would not inform Isaac that Esau was beyond salvation, beyond hope. G-d would not shatter his father’s heart with such news though Isaac already had an inkling that this was so.

Chayei Sarah:

The sacred body returns to Earth

Are we bodies with souls or souls in bodies? This is not a question about how we will die but about how we live.

Vayera:

Pointers on hospitality

Guests do more for the host than the host does for them. The guests get a meal and a place to sleep while the host derives immense satisfaction and pleasure from providing for them - and merits a mitzva besides.

The anniversary of the other Simchat Torah Massacre

Many Jews were killed in a 14th century Simchat Torah massacre . Jewish history tends to repeat itself, but so does our resilience to the world's evil.

Sukkot:

The deep well of love

We love G-d; He has a home in our hearts. At this time, it is appropriate to say that our intellectual wisdom has found a home in our emotional wisdom.

Are we a religion of NO?

If G-d is your destination, you won’t take a route that leads you elsewhere.

Ki Tavo:

Are you a parasite?

If our purpose is survival at all costs, we become our own purpose, and that is a recipe for disaster. It leads to violence, wars, theft, murder, and a general breakdown of society.

Ki Tetse:

Canceling the cancel generation

It is rare to find someone with no strengths or no faults. Most of us are a blend of both, but cancel culture give no one a second chance if he has made one mistake.

Shoftim:

Have you changed?

When we study something, the information is in us, but it doesn’t become us. When we learn, it becomes part of us. And it should change us.

Re'eh:

When good people do nothing

Evil is like a disease. It begins in one section of the body but if left unchecked, spreads to the rest of the body. If gangrene sets in and you are compassionate to your arm, it can soon spread to your vital organs. If an infection sets in and you don’t destroy the bad bacteria, it can kill you.

Parashat Ekev:

Count your blessings

Without G-d, we are mah—nothing. With G-d we are meah—part of everything.

Finding G-d

G-d’s Name begins with a tiny letter because G-d’s greatness is unfathomable to us. What we can know of G-d is infinitesimal like a dot.

Devarim:

Be an unselfish star

Our interest should always be in doing the right thing, not in garnering attention or accolades.

Matot Masei:

Israel’s war is my war

If you don’t go to war alongside your brothers, the war will come to you in one form of suffering or another. In the US, the protests brought this home to every city, university, and water cooler.

Pinchas: Going against your grain

The question is how did Pinchas’ act of violence restore peace?

Chukat: Lift up, don’t put down

It turns out that Rashi and Nachmanides are not arguing about Moses' misstep with the rock. They were both right

G-d Is knocking, answer the call

Let’s not succumb to silly politics and pettiness. Let’s rise to the occasion. History will judge us. What we do will have historic implications. Now is the time to journey forward shoulder to shoulder.

The Torah Dןvision

An analysis of the haredi attitude towards the army.

Bamidbar: We are not victims

The lesson to be learned from a group of young girls in Toronto.

The angel in the marble

Michelangelo once said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”

Heal our fractured self

When tempted by something forbidden, we lose all reason simply lust after it with all our hearts. We can always control ourselves, but we are not always willing.

Passover and Hamas college takeovers

We are powerful. We are G-d’s children. We can help ourselves. He does not want us to surrender. Remember, we were freed from Egypt.

The four answers

The Haggadah presents four questions that are really answers presented in typical Jewish fashion. Jews often answer a question with a question, don't they?

Shabbat Hagadol: Miracle of Miracles

If, back in 1967, you tried to convince someone that what happened last Saturday night would happen, you would have been committed to an asylum. But it did.

Tzav: Fighting evil

How do we continue to trust in G-d when He allows us to be rocketed by so much evil and darkness?

A nation united

Because Mordechai gathered all the Jews, the Jewish people were saved. Unity is the key to redemption.

If you have skills, use them

Whatever skill we might have, we must ask ourselves, how we can use it for G-d?

Ki Tisa: The real you Is perfect

Our sages taught that when we repent properly, even deliberate sins are turned into merits.

Tetzaveh: The Superbowl grind

The Superbowl heroes you watched the other day did it. If they could do it, you are no different; you can do it too. So, what are you waiting for?

Terumah: The path to Victory

Make a mikdash in your home; make this a religious war. This is the path to victory.

Mishpatim: Time for Torah

When I study the Torah and come to “know” G-d’s thinking as well as Adam knew Eve, G-d is present in my mind.

The light keeper

There is only one source of light. There is no pluralism in the Torah. Our multiple opinions and traditions must align with the single source of the Torah’s light.

Bo: The secret alef

Tthe Hebrew word for Redemption, geulah, and the Hebrew word for exile, golah, are practically the same. The only difference is that geulah is spelled with an alef...

Vaera: Distance strengthens our bond

A name that we may not write or utter is a name that is beyond human conjecture. To receive a blessing from this name is to receive truly unlimited blessing.

Shemot: How we survived

We found meaning; that is how we survived.

A father’s greatest joy

a father’s greatest blessing is the one he receives for his children.

Do you belong?

On the surface, we are just like our neighbors in the Diaspora. But we are not really the same. We don't belong and they ensure we know it.

Vayetze: A time of strength, not darkness

A time of war can feel like darkness. But we are not in a place of darkness. We are in a place of strength.

Betrayal has made the Jewish core emerge

We were once proud to say, “My best friend is Muslim,” but it turned out that some of them were not really our friends...

'Creator of the world, I love you'

Our sages taught that righteous people can transform G-d’s severe judgment into Divine acts of compassion.

Bereshit: Some tragedies can’t be undone

When G-d begs forgiveness.

Simchat Torah: When the Torah rejoices

The Torah profits from our joy. As we complete the Torah, the Torah is complete. What can we do to be more complete ourselves?

Yom Kippur: Get your head in the game

Yom Kippur.- It is an immersion that gets your head in the game. And it entails an acknowledgment that our heads were not in the game.

Nitzavim Vayelach: End of the Hakhel

On this hakhel Shabbat, let’s gather with others in genuine unity and friendship.

Ki Tavo: Two desires

What does it mean, did I not really want what I thought I wanted?

Shoftim: Saved by the law

With what perspective can judges administer punishment for sins?

Re'eh: Are we G-d’s children or G-d’s chosen?

G-d calls us His children and His chosen in the same breath. How does that work?

Devarim: Full of hot air

What did Moses say that caused our ancestors to change their minds?

The morning after

Admitting that we were wrong and that everything we said about another person sprung from our narcissism or insecurity is embarrassing.

Pinchas: Life Is not a game of Chance

On the surface, the Torah appears to play a game of chance in one of the most important decisions our people ever made, dividing the land.

Your list of flaws (Korach-Diaspora)

I challenge you to sit down and list all your strengths and flaws.

Behaalotcha (Diaspora): Live in the moment

The point is for our thoughts about G-d to take over our minds and lead us in directions we did not anticipate.

Naso (Diaspora): The Kohen's power

When kohanim offer their blessing, they must clear their minds and focus solely on being a channel through whom the blessing flows.

Every Jew is a letter in the Torah

But - we sink or swim together, just as a kosher Torah needs all its letters to be kosher.

Bamidbar: Follow the money

Moses counted the Israelites using the half shekel each had donated. Are the Jews just money?

Can there be charity without poverty?

How will this mitzva survive if we eradicae poverty?

Every Jew a High Priest - Acharei Mot

Did you know that during the era of the second Temple, all Jews were given a glimpse of the Holy of Holies?.

I wish I were a simpleton like the one in the Haggadah

The simpleton speaks the truth, but it is a sad truth.

Shabbat Hagadol: In God we trust

The Israelites relied on God, making this a great Shabbat for future generations to remember.