Rabbi Lazer Gurkow

You are good

Today’s youth have an unquenchable sense of their own value even before accomplishing anything of significance. When did the change occur?

Vayishlach: G-d Is In our corner

Sometimes it feels as if Murphy’s Law is G-d’s Law. But that's not so.

Toldot: Who am I, Jacob or Esau?

The struggle of mankind.

Be proud that you are Jewish

In times of despair, when the journey seems endless, Abraham and Sarah showed that we can hold our heads high- and put a mezuza on our door!

The festival of unity

Since last year was a shemitah year, this year is a Hakhel year. Why is Sukkot is a propitious time for it?

Haazinu: Freedom of thought

Iti's odd to say that separating nations and fixing boundaries to keep them apart is a formula for unity. But unity is precisely that..

Shabbat Shuvah: The loving exam

The only way to repent for things we did wrong is to know them first and for this we must make an honest accounting. But don't stop there.

Nitzavim:To know or to prove?

When you follow something proven, you have no choice, no freedom; the arguments compel you. When you believe, it is your choice.

This Rosh Hashanah, open up to unity with differences

Most people would say unity without differences is preferable, but Judaism underlines unity with differences.

Shoftim: Changing for the better with G-d’s help

We are each expected to exercise judgement and restraint at our six gate points, the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. G-d is with us to help.

Elul: A month of refuge

Every Jew has a safe space to which they can retreat. A Rosh Chodesh essay for the month of mercy and forgiveness.

Ekev: A life of seasons

There is plenty of room for individual expression in Judaism. Perhaps not in the days of our calendar, but in the choices of life.

Vaetchanan: MyShabbat

Today we have Myoffice, Mydrive, my-everything, so why not MyShabbat?

Fasting without fasting

Are there elements of fasting on Shabbat the 9th of Av even though it is forbidden to fast on Shabbat?

What Tammuz 17, 9 Av and the 1st day of Passover have in common

G-d’s gifts don’t expire. The land did not cease being ours when those nations drove us from the land.

Balak: A shlemiel

Jewish tradition does not often create aphorisms in vain. Here is the story of the first shlemiel.

Chukat: Do we need to use the whip?

A story told by the Lubavitcher Rebbe about a teacher who had a whip hanging from a peg in the classroom..

Korach: A rebel in The Torah?

Must we immortalize Moses’ greatest detractor by recording his story for posterity and naming a Torah portion after him?

Shlach: Everything is G-d's business

I wear tzitzit under my shirt and let the fringes hang down at my side. All I need to do is glance at them and I remember exactly who I am.

Behaalotcha: Off the Derech

If you can’t get people to stop labeling Jews, then change the label into something positive, including the."off the derech" label.

Behar (Diaspora): Personal liberation

Fifty represents a quantum leap upwards letting go and trusting fully in G-d.

Emor (Diaspora): The shame culture

The USA used to be a guilt culture but has skewed toward a shame culture with no forgiveness. Judaism is a guilt culture. Hence Yom Kippur.

Kedoshim (Diaspora): Elon Musk and hateful speech

You are only hateful when you speak hatefully about another. You are not hateful when you espouse an opinion.

Acharei Mot (Diaspora): Why we are needed

We often ask for the things we need, but life is much happier, satisfying, and meaningful, when we ask what we are needed for.

An educational Passover Seder: Four problems Four solutions

What is this obsession with the number four at the Seder? It tells you how to deal with yourself and others.

Metzora: Will Smith

What is the worst part of this tale, that it happened or that we have talked so much about it?

Israel's first Chief Rabbi:

Parashat Hachodesh: When will Mashiach come?

There are two ways to achieve emotional growth, the Tishrei or the Nisan mode. See the Chatam Sofer on this..Which will bring Mashiach?

The boring moments in the Megillah narrative

The stage is set for the thrills by the boring moments that precede them and that is the lesson of Purim.

Do it with heart

Vayikra begins by showing us that God speaks to Moshe only in the merit of the people. That is each of us..

Pekudei: Your Temple

Your heart can be your temple, your brain can be your temple, your energy can be your temple, and your home can be your temple.

G-d needs two kinds of meat in this world.

PIgs serve G-d just as cows do. Why is one kosher and the other treiif?

Tetzave: Desperate for Mashiach

Only today, in an age of unprecedented bounty, longevity, and progress, can we aspire for Mashiach for the right reasons.

The Recipient or the Giver - who is more important?

It is not enough to be a giving spouse; Be an attentive one. It is not enough that your children love you, Let them know you love them.

Mishpatim: Feeling like the little guy

The Chasidic masters would often remind us that we are each critical to G-d.

Yitro: One Heart

One people one heart, or one heart one people? They are not the same but we do not have to be the same to be one people with one heart..

Can we question G-d?

Many have questioned G-d, especially after the Holocaust, but to what avail?

Vaera: Realize your worst fears

There is another, and much more profound, meaning to the words 'realize your worst fears' than the obvious one.

Shemot: Just ask

It took the lack of change after Pharaoh's death to dash Jewish hopes and cause them to ask for freedom.

Ephraim first

Who should our children learn about first, Moses or Shakespeare, the bible or art, Talmud or science?

The dreidel and the gragger - two toys that pack a message

The dreidel is spun by twirling the stem at the top. The gragger is rotated by swinging the stem at the bottom. That is not due to chance.

VAYETZE:

To find our calling is the hallmark of life

Life isn’t a generic formula that can be applied to everyone equally.

CHAYEI SARAH 5782

The white beard

he beard is the only hair that grows vertically from above to below, which represents the flow of Divine energy into the world.

VAYERA 5782

Too Perfect?

I know of at least one person who worried about being too perfect. Our collective grandfather, Abraham.

Go, go, and keep going - you can be anything you want to be

G-d did not tell Abraham to "depart". He said "go". What message was G-d sending?

No more, no less: A powerful story

The first letter of the Torah is bet, the last is lamed. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson spoke of the letters before and after bet and lamed.

Repentance Again? Sukkot is the perfect time to repent

Those who repent out of fear, transform deliberate sins into inadvertent sins.Those who repent out of love, transform them into merits.

Shabbat TeShuvah: Jewish guilt

Sin is never as tantalizing after the fact as it is before the fact.

Nitzavim: Tears of joy

Tears flow when we experience more than our minds and hearts can bear, whether sadness, bitterness or joy.

A license to eat

We have a license to enjoy the resources of the world: We can eat its food, utilize its vast possibilities. But there are several caveats.

Shoftim: How Jews went to war

The Torah exempts three categories of men from going out to a voluntary war. And it explains why.

Moments of pivot

The parasha tells us to make a choice between good and evil. The beginning of Elul tells us to reflect on and pivot away from our mistakes .

Suffering and exile

Our relief from exile will come either way, the question is what we will have gained from our time in the darkness.

"Between the gates"

Being born between the gates empowered Yocheved to feel free. To not allow Egypt to invade her mind, her psyche, her sense of self. And you?

Balak: Stolen waters taste sweet

When you have a choice between doing something self-serving and a good deed, it is human nature to salivate over the self-serving deed.

The Red Heifer: An available tool

Jews were seldom obligated to purify. It was only for those who made pilgrimage and who had become impure since their last pilgrimage.

The behavior mirror

An event in the Torah has a deeper layer that holds a moral lesson for all time, found in the teachings of hassidic philosophy.

Bamidbar: Israel is on fire

Our enemies use our sacred ground to launch attacks against us and the world does not understand how sacred this mountain is to us.

Fooling yourself

Rabbi Simcha Bunim observed that the Torah tells us not to fool others, but if you are a hassid, you don’t fool yourself either.

Groupthink and cancel culture vs. Love others as you do yourself

Every human was created in G-d’s image. If G-d can’t be canceled, neither can His image.

Tazria Metzora: The pivotal moment

The two ways of reading a word in the parsha - "vehuva" or as our Sages said "vehu va" have a world of meaning.