Every chapter, verse, word, and even letter in the Five Books of Moses is filled with meaning and timeless life lessons. Jews read this sacred text from a parchment Torah scroll in synagogue each year, with a different section (parsha) allocated to each week. Year after year we read the same parshas, always finding deeper meanings and new relevance to our lives and the world around us.
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One Who Turns 50 Gives Advice
My pals, today I turn 50. According to our Sages, this is the age at which one gives advice.
Here are 21 pebbles of wisdom I’ve picked up in my 50 trips around the sun:
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Curing Jewish Ignorance
Too many Jews are turning their back on something they don’t even know. I was one of them.
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Day 2704 – What is a Soul?
One week to go. After seven and a half years of reading Talmud, only seven days and seven pages remain until the Daf Yomi cycle renews. G-d willing, I will attend the massive celebration called Siyum HaShasat MetLife Stadium in New Jersey next week, along with nearly 100,000 other Jews. I can scarcely believe it.
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Your Birthday Psalm
My pals, last week I learned of a beautiful tradition originated by the Baal Shem Tov – Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, founder of the Hasidic movement.
On your birthday, you begin to study the psalm corresponding to the year you’re living.
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The Hidden Holiness
In trying to become a holier person, one can go astray despite donning the garments, behaviors, and thoughts of holiness.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe had a beautiful teaching about this…
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A Story From Rebbe Nachman
During the early days of Hasidism, just as now, many “sophisticated” Jews turned away from the tradition of their ancestors in order to pursue a life based on secular values.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov responded with a story…
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The Definition of Soulmates
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was asked, “Do you believe in soulmates?”
He said, “It’s quite true that God decides before we’re born who the right spouse is for us, but it is not necessarily true that God decides such a couple will be happy.”
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What Does “Yasher Koach” Mean?
After a person reads Torah for the benefit of the congregation, we say to them, “Yasher Koach!”
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Day 1574 – Don’t Eye the Merchandise
My son’s 7th birthday is coming up and he wants a punching bag so he can practice tae kwon do at home. I studied the art myself for years, so I know what he needs, and it’s not an inflatable, wobbling piece of dreck that ends up punctured in a week. He’s got a solid roundhouse. He needs a good bag, with a heavy base, that will survive thousands of punches and kicks.
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Day 271 – The Longer Shorter Way
R’ Yehoshua ben Chananyah said: Once I was walking down the road and I saw a little boy sitting by a fork in the road, and I asked him, “Which is the road we take to the town?” He answered me, “This road is short and long, and this one is long and short.”